CARE to Read

At Lincroft Academy, we place reading at the centre of our curriculum. We aim for every young person to leave our school as a skilled reader, and we believe that it is the responsibility of the whole school to work together to achieve this.

Fluent reading is essential for our students, as it serves as a gateway to deeper understanding and perception of the world around them. Reading fluently allows us to move beyond merely decoding words to become fully immersed in the text.

Fluent reading contributes to academic success across all subjects. It allows students to absorb information more efficiently, encouraging them to think critically and articulate their thoughts clearly. In essence, fluent reading not only enriches our students’ education but also empowers them to become thoughtful, informed individuals ready to engage with experiences beyond school.

Sparx Reader

Practising careful, silent reading for extended periods without distraction is crucial for developing reading fluency. Therefore, we set weekly Sparx Reader home learning assignments for all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 to provide them with a tool that measures their reading progress and provides the opportunity to read independently. 

Sparx Reader offers access to over 350 eBooks from a variety of genres, catering for students with reading ages between 6 to 17+, with new inclusive and diverse titles added to the platform regularly. Furthermore, students have privacy over what they choose, which is not always possible when reading a physical book in front of their peers.  

As students read, they answer basic retrieval questions to check that they are reading carefully. These questions are never about specific details in the text and do not involve inference or literary analysis. Put simply, the more carefully they read, the more Sparx Reader Points they earn. SRPs are personalised to each student by working out their reading speed, ensuring that points are awarded fairly to students of all abilities. Therefore, if students are reading carefully, it should take a slower reader the same amount of time to complete their home learning assignment as a faster reader.  

While Sparx Reader has an array of engaging fiction texts, it primarily serves the purpose of providing students with robust, rigorous independent reading practice so that they can learn to pay close attention and read with precision. Having said this, the platform uses a statistical model that continually updates the student’s library: the more they read, the more it will adjust to their individual interests. 

Sparx Reader is just one strand of our whole-school reading charter. KS3 students have the opportunity every week during one of their English lessons to visit our library to select books to enjoy, and we welcome all students to the library daily during their break and lunch times. We strongly encourage our students to read as widely as possible for pleasure, with books of their choice, in addition to their Sparx Reader home learning. 

Powerful Words Programme

In our classrooms, we use evidence-based strategies such as modelled reading, explicit vocabulary instruction, and dual coding to support our students with their reading every day.

As part of our Pastoral Curriculum, form tutors deliver the Powerful Words 5-year programme to their tutees weekly, using explicit vocabulary instruction to teach them a range of Tier 2 words from Coxhead’s ‘Academic Word List’.

We provide high-quality literacy interventions and whole-school practices for our students who struggle with their reading.

Our reading intervention programmes, including ’Code Read’ and ‘Reading Fluency Across the Curriculum’, focus on those who may be experiencing difficulties with phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, comprehension, and overall reading confidence.