At Salmons Brook School, Reading is delivered as a core subject at Key Stage 3 to supplement and support progress in English. For our students—all of whom have EHCPs and SEMH needs—developing the ability to read fluently and with understanding is critical to their academic success, independence, and engagement with the world around them. Reading lessons at SBS focus not only on closing gaps and raising attainment but also on fostering a love of reading and building confidence in accessing texts.
Intent
Our Reading curriculum is designed to:
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Develop students’ decoding skills, fluency, and comprehension through direct, structured reading instruction.
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Embed key strategies from the Reciprocal Reading approach—predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarising—to improve understanding and support independence.
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Provide flexible, interest-led reading materials that are adapted to meet the needs, preferences, and starting points of each learner.
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Monitor progress carefully through termly reading assessments using Accelerated Reader, allowing timely intervention and personalised support.
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Create a school-wide culture where all students are encouraged and supported to read for pleasure, overcoming barriers linked to low self-esteem, literacy gaps, or previous negative experiences with reading.
Implementation
Reading is timetabled weekly across all KS3 classes and is taught by familiar adults who understand each student’s emotional and academic needs. Key features include:
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Structured Skill Development: Each reading lesson is underpinned by explicit instruction in phonics (where needed), vocabulary, inference, and retrieval, with scaffolded support to build fluency and resilience.
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Reciprocal Reading Framework: Students are explicitly taught and supported to use the four strategies of reciprocal reading—predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarising—to develop comprehension skills and confidence.
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Adaptable Text Choices: Teachers select texts based on student interests, reading levels, and emotional maturity. These include short stories, graphic novels, news articles, extracts from longer novels, and high-interest/low-reading-age texts.
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Assessment and Tracking: Termly assessments are completed using Accelerated Reader, providing reading age data and ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) bands. Results are used diagnostically to inform:
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In-class support and groupings
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Recommendations for personal reading books
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Targeted reading interventions such as Lexonik or one-to-one support
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Personalised and Therapeutic Approach: For many students, reading is associated with frustration or failure. At SBS, reading is approached therapeutically—celebrating small steps, building on strengths, and providing high praise and visible progress.
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CREATE Values in Practice: Reading lessons promote Community through shared reading; Relationships through group discussion and support; Enrichment through diverse and engaging texts; Aspirations by helping students work towards higher-level comprehension; Trust through creating a safe learning environment; and Education through a commitment to improving literacy outcomes.
Impact
Through the Reading curriculum, students at Salmons Brook:
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Make measurable progress in fluency, comprehension, and reading age, monitored through Accelerated Reader assessments and teacher-led formative feedback.
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Build greater reading stamina and confidence, enabling better access to curriculum texts in English and across other subjects.
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Begin to see reading as a pleasurable and worthwhile activity, supported by texts that reflect their interests and lived experiences.
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Develop the strategic tools needed to understand and navigate text independently, using reciprocal reading as a scaffold.
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Receive timely and targeted intervention where needed, helping to reduce the gap between chronological and reading age over time.
Reading is a gateway skill—and at Salmons Brook, it is delivered with care, intention, and ambition, ensuring every student has the opportunity to access, enjoy, and succeed through literacy.