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Literacy

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”  

Proverbs 16:24 

At St Aidan’s, we firmly believe that promoting reading and literacy is a core part of our work to support student flourishing.  The 2008 report, Literacy Changes Lives, identified a clear correlation between literacy levels and life outcomes, with those of higher literacy much likely to have, amongst other things, better physical and mental health, economic wellbeing and engagement in democratic processes. 

We promote student literacy and reading capability in a range of different ways. 

New Group Reading Test 

All children take the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) when they start at St Aidan’s.   

The NGRT is a formative assessment that is used to assess a students’ level reading. Formative means that it does not count towards any final grade or result but is used to find out your child’s current ability level as compared to the national average and allow for identification of students who may benefit from interventions or from being stretched further. The test can be taken again later in the school year to assess progress and see whether interventions have been successful. 

The content is designed to reflect the language of today and the way that reading is taught in schools. It is a short multiple-choice test that can be used to assess reading skills of children as young as 5, and monitor progress up to the age of 16. 

Tasks include sentence completion and reading comprehension, and the test should take 30-50 minutes. 

How is NGRT used? 

Reading skills are a key aspect of a students’ ability to access the school curriculum. NGRT can quickly and accurately inform staff of a student’s level of reading, and therefore provide support to those who need it, or stretch those who can be pushed for further development. It allows for more personalised interventions that are appropriate for the individual student, with the aim of raising a student’s abilities in reading and, by extension, their ability to access other areas of the curriculum. 

If you have any questions about the NGRT, please contact Mr Shanks, Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning. 

Reading Intervention 

Where the NGRT identifies significant weaknesses in a child’s reading, we intervene quickly to ensure students can catch up.   

  • Phonics intervention: Where students are identified in Year 7 as having a deficiency in their phonics knowledge in Primary School, we provide access to specialist teaching from our Learning Support team to help them to catch up. 

  • Sixth Form Peer Reading Scheme: Where students are identified as having secure phonics knowledge, but still significantly behind their chronological age level, we identify a suitable Sixth Form student for them to read with during WALK time on a Friday, in order to build up their fluency and give them more practice. 

Reading Enhancement 

At St Aidan’s, we have two core reading enhancement schemes which are followed by every student between Years 7 and 9.  These are designed to promote reading practice and fluency among all students. 

  • Sparx Reader: This is an online reading platform that helps students to practise reading regularly, to set them up for success at secondary school and in life beyond. 

  • WALK Time Reader: This is completed as a collective reading activity in WALK time, where students read a novel together in conjunction with their WALK time teacher.   

The Library 

At the heart of our work to support reading is our school library.  This is open to all students during Break and Lunch time, as well as for Sixth Form students during the day.  The Library is stocked with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles to support student learning, as well as IT equipment for use by students as needed.  Our Library team are delighted to support students in finding suitable titles to further enhance their enjoyment of reading as they move through the school.   

Through the library we have been able to organise a range of activities, which include: 

  • Author visits such as that of Tom Palmer in July 2025. 

  • Participation in the National Reading Champions Quiz in March 2026 

  • Participation in the Battle of the Books Quiz in February 2026. 

  • Hosting an Academic Writing Workshop for Year 13 English and Media students in September 2025. 

Literacy within the curriculum 

All subjects have identified key vocabulary across the curriculum that is essential to success in the subject and explicitly teach these key words.  The full list of vocabulary is available via the Curriculum documents on that section of the website.