Literacy and Reading

At Chingford Foundation School, we know that literacy is at the core of learning. Having a strong foundation of literacy ensures better opportunities are open and accessible to our students in the future. 

We aim to transform the lives of our students by closing the reading gap, bringing their reading age in line with their actual age. By fostering a love of reading, we hope that students will continue to be avid readers as they continue their academic journey in the future. All teachers teach literacy within their subjects, with students learning the key skills of reading, writing and oracy. 

Our literacy programme includes a number of strategies and opportunities:  

• The use of Accelerated Reader in Years 7-9;  
• The use of Bedrock in Years 7-8, as well as for Year 9 interventions;  
• A focus on Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary. Tier 2 words are more advanced, academic words. Tier 3 words are subject-specific. 
• Lunchtime reading clubs; 
• Peer mentoring and reading interventions; 
• One-to-one sessions; 
• Library lessons; 
• Reading passports and recommended reads; 
• Opportunities to celebrate and promote a love of reading in form time; 
• Assemblies and special days such as World Book Day; 
• Numerous challenges and competitions which run throughout the year. 

Our Library 

Our library is at the heart of the school, and is a study base as well as home to thousands of wonderful books. We strive to ensure that the library is equally accessible to all pupils; both the library environment and stock aim to meet the needs of all students.  

Through books, students can explore a wide range of diversities and worlds. The stories contain characters from all over the world, of different genders and sexualities, neurotypical and neurodivergent, able or disabled, and facing a range of challenging situations, as well as thousands of fictional worlds and cities to inspire and nurture their imaginations.  

The pastoral side of school life is also a priority, and our library stock includes wellbeing books that may be helpful to young people who encounter challenging situations, as well as non-fiction books for them to learn more about the world they live in. We also have dyslexia-friendly books and a range of graphic novels.  

Our library is a safe space, where students can read for pleasure and relax. It also hosts games at lunchtime, and is the proud home of our chess club.   

Accelerated Reader 

At Chingford Foundation School, we place great importance on developing students' understanding of what they read, impacting positively on their learning across the whole curriculum as they progress towards their GCSEs.  

We encourage our students to read as often as possible. It is recommended that all students read for a minimum of 30 minutes every day - including at the weekends and during school holidays. This is important if students are to continue to develop their literacy levels.  

Reading should be both pleasurable and a way of extending learning.  In addition, this can be a fun activity for all the family - read, discuss and challenge one another in a variety of ways: understanding, changing characters, guess endings, change endings - the ideas are plentiful.  

Students are able to borrow books from the school’s well-resourced library. We also encourage students to swap books, and to borrow books from their local library.  

Our school has invested in the Renaissance (Accelerated Reading) Star Reading assessments for students from Years 7 to Year 9. All our students have taken an online reading assessment and students needing support will have literacy interventions to develop their reading and comprehension skills. Those students will continue to be tested throughout the year to monitor their progress. Students are given their reading range, which is also known as a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development), which acts as a guide for students to select books appropriate to their reading level.    

Accelerated Reader BookFinder 

You can check the ZPD range of a book that you have at home by logging on to Accelerated Reader BookFinder which is available to students, parents, teachers and librarians, so they can identify appropriate books that are also of interest.  

Bedrock 

Bedrock Learning Year 7 to Year 8 

Bedrock is an online programme that supports reading, vocabulary and literacy. The programme teaches skills in grammar, using fiction and non-fiction texts. 

To achieve the best results, students are encouraged to log on regularly at home, as little and often is the best approach to completing the tasks.  

Reading books by different authors and genres is also important. The Librarian, Ms Gudgeon, can offer advice about books that children should be able to read, but would also stretch their reading ability. The key to reading books is to find something they are interested in and to enjoy the book. 

Parent logging on to Bedrock 

Every parent/carer will have been sent the ‘School access code’ letter for them to log on to Bedrock from home, using a variety of devices. You will receive weekly emails showing how many points your child has reached and updates about their progress. Your child should be getting 20 points per week.  

To make the most progress, we recommend a little and often approach, so this could be 10-15 minutes per day, up to 5 days a week. Alternatively, they could do three 20 minute sessions. In total, they need to be completing an hour a week. By logging on at home between lessons, they are more likely to remember the programme and make progress. 

• Log on to – app.bedrocklearning.org 
• Click ‘Guardian sign up’ and then ‘School access code’.
• Enter your child’s details and the ‘School access code’, then click ‘Register’.  

When you have registered, you will be able to see what your child is learning, along with ideas about how to support their learning.  

You can find more resources and helpful tips at: www.bedrocklearning.org