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Reading and Numeracy

Every child at Waterside will be taught to read with fluency and understanding.

At Waterside we address Reading and Literacy through three strands:

  1. Reading intervention delivered through the Lexonik LEAP and Lexonik FLEX programmes
  2. Reading across the curriculum, delivered through quality first teaching, which incorporates reading opportunities of high-quality texts and explicit teaching of key vocabulary. Along with various opportunities to develop oral skills.
  3. Reading for pleasure through individual sessions in our library and various mediums of text available in the school aimed at student interests.

During their time at Waterside all children will develop the skills and confidence to read increasingly challenging texts independently in order to support them in all aspects of their curriculum. During lessons, vocabulary is explicitly and systematically taught to enable students to understand the relationships between words and nuances of meaning. A broad vocabulary will empower students to articulate their thoughts, emotions and ideas effectively as well as enabling them to engage more deeply with the written and spoken word.

Through reading, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. All of which are essential to participating fully as a member of society.

For students who need additional support with reading skills, we offer the Lexonik intervention programme which is targeted towards a student’s individual reading needs. All of these interventions not only help students to be better readers, but also aim to help them to enjoy reading more and access the curriculum.

Lexonik Leap is very much a systematic, synthetic phonics approach that includes phonological awareness training, phonics and orthographic mapping. It helps students who need some additional help with phonics, the sounds of letters. In this intervention, each student is assessed individually, and the support is focused solely on the area or areas where they have a gap in their knowledge. Students work individually with the teacher for short periods of time (15-20 minutes) 3-4 times per week until they have mastered the content. Students who have completed Leap will probably move into one of the other two interventions, Lexonik Advance and/or guided reading groups.

Lexonik Flex helps to build student fluency and vocabulary skills. Fluency is the ability to read at an appropriate pace, with expression, and pauses in the right places. This programme is taught in groups of 4 students, once a week for 7 weeks. Students are assessed at the beginning and end of this course. Some students who complete the advanced programme will then move into a guided reading group.

The KS3 Reading and Literacy curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills developed in KS2 to allow students to become increasingly sophisticated communicators with a comprehensive grasp of grammatical terminology and the ability to apply this knowledge to their own writing. Reading lessons form part of or KS3 universal offer, where students engage with the Liverpool SIP reading programme which embraces the ‘I do, We do, You do’ approach to modelling and learning. Through this, confidence is gradually built upon to ensure students are confident readers and expand their vocabulary.

The KS4 Reading and Literacy curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills developed in KS2 and 3, along with addressing gaps. Reading sessions form part of the universal offer for all students, where students will have the opportunity to read texts of their choice and practice reading for pleasure.

Across both key stages, literacy skills are delivered through quality first teaching, which incorporates reading opportunities of high-quality texts and explicit teaching of key vocabulary. Along with various opportunities to develop oral skills.

We understand it can be difficult to engage teenagers in reading, but your input at home is paramount to fostering a love for reading. Please see the guide below to help you encourage your child to read.

Please use the links below for inspiration on reading material:

READING LISTS: