Reading, Literacy and Oracy Curriculum

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

1. Regular Diagnostic Assessment

Through English, Literacy and Inclusion, a range of diagnostic assessments are regularly conducted to track student progress and to determine where additional intervention is required.  The range of assessments include:

• ART -Access Reading Test completed by all students
• Spelling tests
• Baseline writing tests (school-devised)
• Reading age (comprehension, speed and accuracy) test NARA- Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (delivered by teachers in person)
• WRAT 5 -Wide Range Achievement Test, 5^th Edition – single word reading test
• Regular in-class quality-marked assessments (QMAs)
• GL Assessments (NGRT – New Group Reading Test) – for selected literacy intervention students
• CTOPP Processing test
• DRA Diagnostic Reading Assessment
• DASH handwriting assessment

2. English Schemes of Work

All KS3 Schemes of Work in English are all based around specific texts and expanding students’ experience of reading.  At KS4, some units are based around specific texts for one of the literature papers, and some are based around a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts of the type used in language exam papers.  Throughout their time at Culcheth, students are explicitly taught a range of reading strategies and encouraged to appreciate great literature and quality writing.

UNIT	Y7	Y8	Y9	Y10 and Y11 (GCSE)
1	Tales with a Twist: two Roald Dahl short stories	Victorian literature, including poetry, non-fiction, and Dickens’ Oliver Twist	Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird	Shakespeare: Macbeth Priestley: An Inspector Calls Dickens: A Christmas Carol An anthology of poetry 18th – 21st Century A range of modern poetry A range of fiction extracts A range of non-fiction texts
2	A range of Greek Myths	Poems from a Range of Cultures	A range of celebrated speeches from a range of historical periods
3	Literature of Conflict- Includes Private Peaceful and a range of WW1 poetry.	Golding: The Lord of the Flies	Creative and Narrative writing
4		Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet	A range of non-fiction texts from the 19th and 21st centuries
5		Blackman: Noughts and Crosses RSC play adaptation	An anthology of Romantic poetry
6	Shakespeare’s Villains	N/A	N/A

3. English Homework Schedule (Extended Reading)

The English homework schedule covers a range of skills from accurate punctuation and grammar to comprehension and writing skills.  At the centre of the English homework schedule is an innovative programme of weekly reading, which includes online texts and video /audio of teachers reading the text, so that students can follow along with the teacher if they wish; it is based on a diverse range of engaging texts. Students’ understanding is tested through regular quizzes set on Google forms through Google Classroom. Running alongside this, there is a programme of comprehension homeworks, which requires students to read a wide variety of other texts, ranging through famous speeches, articles, autobiographies, biographical writing, fiction extracts.  There are also regular proof-reading activities to focus students on the fine detail of the texts they read.

YEAR 7		YEAR 8		YEAR 9
Full texts read	Examples of extracts / shorter texts read	Full texts read	Examples of extracts / shorter texts read	Full texts read	Examples of extracts / shorter texts read
Five on a Treasure Island The Tulip Touch	A number of Greek myths A number of stories of English folklore Extracts from Stormbreaker and Little Women A range of non-fiction articles	The Long Way Down Patron Saints of Nothing One additional book	A Range of biographical and autobiographical texts, including Ronaldo, Roald Dahl, and Anne Frank A range of fiction extracts, including The Handmaid’s Tale, The Children of Men and Mazerunner	I am Malala The Hate U Give (THUG)	A range of contemporary speeches by influential people A range of non-fiction articles Extracts from Winter’s Bone, Great Expectations, The Life of Pi, The Night Circus, The Kite Runner and many more

4. Drop Everything and Listen (DEAL)

Every fortnight, students in KS3 (Years 7, 8 and 9)‘Drop Everything and Listen’ to their English teachers act as role models by reading a range of challenging, diverse, engaging and often topical texts, both fiction and non-fiction, to their classes.  These texts can be listened to for pleasure, to be informed, to be challenged or to stimulate further debate of discussion.  The texts are specifically chosen to match the theme of the year: Antagonists (Y7), Morality (Y8) and Principles (Y9).

Examples of ‘DEAL’ texts:

‘Five On A Treasure Island’ Chapters 6-7 ‘May Malone’ Captain Hardcastle from ‘Boy’ ‘Looking for JJ’ ‘Refugee Boy’ ‘Loose Change’ ‘The Outsiders’

‘1984’ ‘Hunger Games’ ‘Maze Runner’ ‘I am Malala’ Chapters 2-3 ‘I am Malala’ Chapters 6-7 ‘Every Man Dies Alone’ ‘Orangeboy’

‘Orangeboy’ ‘I am Malala’ ‘Welcome to Nowhere’ ‘Crongton Knights’ ‘Terror Kid’

5. ILC Lessons and extra-curricular time

Every fortnight, students in Y7 and Y8 have ILC/Library lessons, where they learn about the Dewey Decimal system of classification, how to effectively use contents pages and indexes to locate information, and how to order books, as a series of starters.  Each lesson is then based around ‘DEAL’ (see above).  Students, of course, have time to change their books to promote a love of reading.  There is dedicated reading time too.

The ILC is available at break and lunch times for students to read, change books, order books and study.  The librarian is always available to support.  A reading ‘loyalty card’ system is in operation, which rewards students for the books they read.

6. The Literacy Intervention Programme

Students are selected for the literacy intervention programme based on careful consideration of KS2 levels, CAT scores, Access Reading Test assessment NGRT assessment,  baseline assessments and individual educational needs.

The literacy intervention programme runs through Years Seven, Eight and Nine.  There are approximately 35 students each year who join the programme.  Students have two hours of literacy a week in addition to English (three lessons a fortnight in Y9).  Like the English curriculum, the literacy intervention programme is also structured around a sequence of carefully chosen texts that are linked to, and support, learning in English.  Literacy intervention sessions are heavily staffed with well-qualified teachers and teaching assistants to allow for more individualised support and intervention.  In each year, there are two literacy intervention pathways: Standard Literacy and Intensive Literacy.  Intensive Literacy begins with phonics before following a similar pathway to Standard Literacy later on.

Students’ progress is tracked against a range of metrics, which are then used to inform future teaching and intervention.

	Week	Y7 Standard Literacy	Y7 Intensive Literacy	Y8 Standard Literacy	Y9 Standard Literacy
		X4 Lessons per fortnight	X4 Lessons per fortnight	X4 Lessons per fortnight	X3 Lessons per fortnight
Autumn Term 1	1
	2			Reading Comprehension: Lightning Strike     QMA 1: Week 8 – REPORTED WEEK 11	Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: Rat       QMA 1: Week 5 – REPORTED WEEK 7
	3
	4
	5	Reading Comprehension: The Unforgotten Coat   QMA 1: Week 9 – REPORTED WEEK 11	Read Write Inc. Fresh Start   QMA 1: Week 9 Module 5 (or next module based on group ability) REPORTED WEEK 11     QMA 2: Week 21 Module 12 (or next module based on ability) REPORTED WEEK 24
	6
	7
	8
Autumn Term 2	9			Reading Project	Reading Project
	10
	11	Reading Project
	12
	13
	14
	15
Spring Term 1	16
	17
	18
	19
	20
	21
Spring Term 2	22
	23
	24			Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: Drowning in my bedroom QMA 2: Week 31 – REPORTED WEEK 34	Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: The List       QMA 2: Week 31 – REPORTED WEEK 34
	25
	26	Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: I am the Minotaur   QMA 2: Week 32 – REPORTED WEEK 34	Reading Project
	27
Summer Term 1	28
	29
	30
	31
	32			Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: The Climbers	Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: Millions
Summer Term 2	33	Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills: Edgar and Adolf
	34
	35
	36
	37
	38
	39

7. Individual Literacy Plans and Cross-Curricular Monitoring of Students on the Literacy Intervention Programme

Every student on the literacy Intervention Programme in KS3 (and every KS4 student who was on the literacy intervention programme in KS3) has an Individual Literacy Plan containing a range of useful information and strategies to help the student.  Teachers access these ILPs through Classcharts.

Cross-curricular monitoring, including lesson drop-ins, student voice interviews, staff voice interviews, and work scrutiny, is carried out every year.  The purpose is to raise the profile of the literacy intervention students, to constantly evolve and improve provision for them, to track what provision is being made to meet their needs across all subjects, and to assess how they are working.

8. KS4 Orange Pathway

Students following the orange options pathway complete the functional skills in English course comprising speaking and listening, reading and writing elements.  The course consists of a series of themed units designed to support and develop students’ English development.  Students can achieve a gold or a silver award.

9. Literacy Intervention for Pupil Premium Students (Including Y7 Reading Group)

During registration time, students in receipt of Pupil Premium funding are enrolled on a range of English and maths focused interventions to support their progress.  At KS3, PP students attend literacy or numeracy based ‘boosters’, which are targeted programmes delivered by specialist teachers.  At KS4, PP students attend sessions tailored to improving GCSE performance in English and maths.  These sessions are generally delivered by the heads of department for English and Maths or post holders within the departments.  There are additional booster sessions for RAB (Raising the Attainment of Boys) and RAG (Raising the Attainment of Girls) groups.

Exemplar timetable from Autum Term One 2025-26:

Year Group	Day	Maths (teacher, location)	English (teacher, location)
Year 7	Tues	KOS (ILC)	KMC (ILC)
Year 8	Weds	KOS (ILC)	KMC (ILC)
Year 9	Thurs	KOS (ILC)	KMC (ILC)
Year 10	Mon	ACO (S208)	JGI (S001)
Year 11	Thurs/Fri	ACO (S208)	JGI (S001)
11RAs	Tues/Weds	ACO (S208)	CSP (Tues), JGI (Weds) (S001)

10. After-School Pre-Learning Sessions (for Students with Dyslexia, and Others)

Two regular sessions (one hour after school on Mondays for Year 11 and one hour after school on Thursdays for Year 10) for around 20 students with dyslexia, visual stress or other barriers to reading, run each week.  The sessions focus around pre-learning, where students will explore the learning materials soon to be encountered in class, and are approximately two weeks ahead of the English curriculum.  Research suggests that this method of pre-learning enables students to process information in the lesson more effectively, increases confidence and reduces frustration.  The programme also includes work on skills that benefit students with dyslexia and / or visual stress such as spelling of key words, visual discrimination, and tracking work.

An example from the scheme of work:

Week 1	Introduction to A Christmas Carol Outline Exam info Plot summary video Timeline creation	1. Characters word search 2. Video plot summary (BBC bitesize) 3. Create timeline of plot with summary pictures and outline
Week 2	Plot summary review Historical context	1.Finish timelines 2. Plot summary quizz 3.Historical context
Week 3	More detailed review of plot Character introduction.	1.Washing line plot, 1point for correct Stave, 2 points correct position in the stave, minus 1 for in the wrong place. 2. Character match up, who’s who.

11. Whole-School Oracy (2023-24 and Beyond)

Effective oracy skills are promoted enthusiastically in CHS.  Research-based, whole-school oracy resources and classroom tools have been developed and disseminated.  A number of whole-staff training / CPD sessions have run.  All teaching staff are required to submit evidence of how oracy has been used effectively in their classroom twice each year, every other year, as part of the oracy project.  This evidence is collated and sharing good practice and reflection sessions complement the cycle.

12. Whole-School Reading Project (2024-25 and Beyond)

The whole-school reading project (2024-2026) is focused on developing the explicit and effective teaching and improvement of reading in all subjects in all year groups.  In the 2024-25 academic year, teachers trialled a range of researched based reading strategies and kept a log of how they were implemented in the classroom.  This included evaluation and reflection and culminated in a sharing good practice session that informed the adoption of a range of whole-school reading approaches that will be enacted in the academic year 2025-26 and beyond.

13. Whole-School Writing Audit (2024-25)

Throughout the academic year, the literacy coordinator will liaise with all heads of department individually in a series of evaluative meetings.  A full audit of the pedagogy and resources used in the teaching of writing will be compiled as a report and used to reflect on how the teaching of writing may be further improved.  This will be further informed by broad and detailed investigation of existing research with a view to collaboratively improving the teaching of writing in all subjects.

14. Reading Displays

A set of custom-designed posters, developed in collaboration with all staff, displayed in every single classroom, to promote the consistent teaching of reading strategies across all subjects.  The CPD programme promotes and supports the effective deployment of these strategies across the curriculum.

15. Peer Reading Sessions (Y10 for Y7)

Once a week, Y7 students who would benefit from some support to increase their confidence with reading are paired up with a Y10 mentor who models good reading for them, listens to them read, helping where required, and asks questions to check comprehension.

16. Y9 Cross-Curricular Reading Anthology – Weekly Reading Homework Programme

Every week. Students in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 are set a challenging and enriching text to read for homework.  This is followed by a brief quiz.  Each week a different subject area sets the texts and the quizzes.  Texts are designed to elevate students beyond the curriculum, whilst complimenting it, and enrich students’ experience in a range of disciplines while they broaden and deepen their reading experience.

17. Silver Stories

 Wonderfully simple but with an incredibly positive impact for both Silver Listeners and Silver Readers.  Children (known as Silver Readers) telephone a Silver Listener every week and then read a short story or poem to them.  This not only helps the children to become more confident in their reading skills but also links our children to the older members of our communities and helps diminish their chances of feeling isolated.

18. Reading in English Lessons

 Five to ten minutes at the beginning or end of each English lesson is dedicated to reading for pleasure.  Students read appropriate books that they have chosen themselves to foster a regular reading-for-pleasure habit and a love for reading.

19. Reading in Form Time (Y7 & 8)

Once a week, students in Y7 and Y8 read in form time.  Students read books chosen by the English department for their literary merit and cultural capital.