Reading Intervention at Bishop Ramsey

Reading Intervention at Bishop Ramsey 

“Without identification of their reading needs and targeted additional teaching, pupils who arrive in secondary school as poor readers are likely to continue to struggle. As the secondary curriculum places increasing demands on reading comprehension, older pupils who struggle with reading comprehension do not catch up.  Each year, only 10% of disadvantaged children who leave primary school with their reading below the expected standard get passes in English and mathematics at GCSE.” 

‘Now the whole school is reading’: Supporting struggling readers in secondary school. OFSTED Oct 2022 

We take a data driven approach to reading at Bishop Ramsey.  This starts with reading tests in Year 7 to identify “below chronological age” readers.  The objective of the assessment is to work out which students require reading intervention and if so at what level and intensity.   

Tier 1 

Students are placed in this tier if their reading age is below their chronological age but where this is within a year of it. 

Students in this group will be matched with a reading buddy to supplement their weekly form time reading.   

Tier 2 

Students are placed in this group if their reading age is below their chronological age but more than a year lower.  

Students in this group will be placed in a “reading fluency group” led by a specially trained English teacher. 

Tier 3 

Students are placed in this group if their reading age is 2 or more years below their chronological age.   

Students in this group receive 1:1 reading intervention twice a week by a Teaching Assistant or HLTA who has received specialist training.  This intervention is overseen by our dyslexia specialist. 

Catch up Literacy is a structured one-to-one intervention for learners who find reading difficult. It enables struggling readers to achieve more than double the progress of typically developing readers. 

More information on this intervention can be found here - Catch Up Literacy - Catch Up 

Tier 4 – dyslexia 1:1  

Students are placed in this group if they have a low reading age and have a diagnosis or positive screening for dyslexia. 

This intervention is 1:1 or in a small group and at KS3 this is focussed first on reading including fluency and as the student progresses this will move towards other literacy skills.  

This intervention is overseen and delivered by our dyslexia specialist.