Reading at Colmers
Social Media:
Colmers Library @ColmersLibrary on twitter
https://twitter.com/ColmersLibrary
Our Motto:
‘Reading Matters’
Thinking Reading
Thinking Reading is a whole-school strategy which involves an intensive, one-to-one intervention at its centre for specific students. However, in order to ensure that all of our students have the opportunity to develop their reading skills school wide, our lessons have been adapted to suit a whole class reading activity with texts of 800 words.
It is hoped that by exposing our students to a wide variety of texts in different subjects, they begin to see the important part that reading plays in their learning. By reading more often throughout the school day, our students are not only becoming more fluent readers, they are also developing their comprehension and becoming more confident when approaching challenging texts.
What our students think about the impact of reading 800 words often in their lessons:
‘My comprehension has improved.’
‘I am more confident to read out loud.’
‘My inference skills have developed.’
‘I understand the context of the text because I understand more of the vocabulary that I read.’
Friday Form Reading
Research suggests that people who read more, achieve more. Through reading, our students will develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures and the world around them.
Friday Form Reading is an opportunity for our students to be read to by their Form Tutor every Friday morning during Form Time. Every reading session is linked to an element of SMSC, the Fundamental British Values and the UNICEF Rights of a Child.
Take a look at what each year group have read this academic year so far:
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Reading for Pleasure
Here at Colmers we take every opportunity to encourage our students to read for pleasure, as we believe it is hugely beneficial to them in numerous ways, including:
- Developing their knowledge and understanding of the word around them
- Extending their vocabulary and ability to understand and use language
- Developing emotional intelligence and ability to empathise with others’ experiences
- An enjoyable pastime that is excellent for relaxation and mental health
We are constantly adding to the list of ways we promote this, but just some of our strategies include:
- Through the development of our fantastic library. All students have a library induction lesson where they are helped by our trained librarian to choose a book to borrow that they will enjoy. The library is open from 8AM to 4 PM, Monday to Friday for students to change their books or use the space to browse and read, when not in lessons. Some of our students even choose to become Student Librarians, to help develop the work of the library further.
- Books for the New Intake – In order to demonstrate out commitment to reading, all future Year 7 students are given a book by us on New Intake Day.
- Friday Form Reading – Every student from Years 7-11 take part in this activity with their form tutor every Friday, giving them an opportunity to read, share and discuss and fictional texts carefully selected to be of interest and relevance to our diverse community.
- World Book Day – Every World Book Day, our students participate in a fun range of competitions and activities designed to foster a love of reading.
- Speaker Events – We take every opportunity to get local writers into school to speak to our students and promote the joy of reading – for example, this March saw Year 9 enjoy a visit from professional boxer and former Young Poet Laureate Matt Windle.
- Trips and Visits – These are organised wherever possible to further extend students’ experience and knowledge of texts and authors – for example, this February a group of Year 12 and 13 students attended a screening of the National Theatre Live performance of Shakespeare’s Othello, to develop their understanding of the text.
- Competitions – We frequently run competitions to promote a love of reading, such as our recent Bookmark Design Competition and Book Review Competitions. These prove very popular with our students.
- Reading Clubs – We have at least one extra-curricular reading group running at all times and this is something that will be extended further next term following the development of our library space.
- Reading for Pleasure Homework – Because we take reading for pleasure so seriously, every student from Years 7-11 is set a Reading for Pleasure task every half term, shared with students and parents through Class Charts.
These are just a few examples of the ways reading for pleasure is promoted and celebrated at Colmers, with many more exciting activities planned for the future!
Free Online Books and Reading Resource Catalogues to Aid Reading for Pleasure:
If you need access to a text, free online databases may be able to provide it to you. They are especially useful for older texts and classics, and may be available in an audio format for ease of accessibility.
Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/
BookTrust ‘Bookfinder’ tool:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/
