Thinking Reading Programme

Good literacy can have a positive effect on an individual’s life, not just during school, but long after leaving East Point Academy. With good literacy skills, people can have increased chances of social mobility and longer life expectancies - meaning the potential for higher income and opportunities for future generations.

Thinking Reading is a literacy decoding intervention working with those students who have the most significant gaps (more than 2 years) between their reading age and chronological age. The intervention is there as temporary support, prioritising Y7 and Y10 students until their reading ages match their actual ages. Students are chosen based on diagnostic tests and work with a mentor 1:1 three times each week.

Lessons

Lessons are broken down into two halves - The first half focuses on techniques and skills to decode words and build upon recognition and fluency of reading sounds. The second half focuses on exposure to vocabulary in a text and comprehension of these texts. 

The lessons are personalised so that individual needs and specific areas of learning are addressed, allowing quick visible progress to be seen. The methodical and systematic approach to lessons allows positive reading habits to be instilled in the student and within each and every lesson there are stages for progression and success.

How Thinking Reading fits into East Point Academy

The Thinking Reading program aims to catch up students for missed time due to COVID, it compensates for areas of deprivation and simply aims to demonstrate the enjoyment of reading.

The most important thing about the program is the effect it can have on the students enrolled in such a short space of time. In just six lessons (approximately two weeks) a student with a reading age of below 11 years can make six months of progress. Confidence in the students is also massively improved, as the sessions break down barriers to speaking aloud and this can then be built upon further in their normal timetabled lessons.

Students enjoy the Thinking Reading lessons and graduation from the program is celebrated among staff and students. For any further information please don’t hesitate to contact Nicola Murray (nicolamurray@inspirationtrust.org)