Developing pupils’ English reading skills from 10-14 years of age

Thematic Report


This thematic report is written in response to a request for advice from the Minster for Education and the Welsh Language in his remit letter to Estyn for 2022-23. The report describes how schools are developing pupils’ English reading skills across the curriculum in Year 6 in primary schools, and in Years 7, 8 and 9 in secondary schools or from the age of 10-14 years in all-age schools. It considers how well pupils’ reading skills are developing, their attitudes to reading, and the extent to which schools are developing a ‘reading culture’. 


Recommendations

School leaders should:

  • R1    Provide staff with high-quality professional learning about evidence-based strategies to develop pupils’ reading skills across the curriculum
  • R2    Monitor and evaluate robustly the impact of reading strategies and interventions
  • R3    Plan within their cluster for the progressive development of pupils’ reading skills from Year 6 to Year 7, including making appropriate use of feedback and progress reports from personalised assessments

Teachers and classroom-based support staff should:

  • R4    Plan meaningful and engaging opportunities for pupils to develop their reading skills progressively 
  • R5    Use high-quality, suitably challenging texts to develop pupils’ reading skills alongside teaching the strategies pupils need to access and engage with these texts

School improvement partners should:

  • R6    Work together closely to ensure greater consistency and synergy in professional learning opportunities around reading for school leaders, teachers and teaching assistants

The Welsh Government should:

  • R7    Continue to promote and develop the whole-school approach to oracy and reading toolkit

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