Literacy Strategy

“The only thing you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.” – Albert Einstein

At Holy Cross we put reading at the centre of school life.  The importance of regular reading is encouraged at Holy Cross during tutor time, KS3 library lessons, throughout all curriculum areas and at the start of every English lesson.  Pupils are expected to have a reading book with them at all times.

Our well-resourced school library is run by Miss Rushton, the Library Manager, and is open to pupils at break, lunch and after school.  We offer a diverse selection of books for pupils to choose from and currently stock over 10,000 texts.

We also benefit from a Teacher of Reading Intervention, Miss Leeming, who provides one-to-one and small group tuition for our weakest readers to ensure they make accelerated progress and can meet curriculum related expectations across subject areas.

Miss Leeming delivers a bespoke reading curriculum that focuses on phonics (if necessary), fluency, prosody and comprehension.  The texts pupils encounter during reading intervention are carefully selected to enhance learning across all areas of the curriculum.  Pupils complete pre-reading on topics they will study in their wider lessons and read texts which help to consolidate their knowledge of the KS3 National Curriculum.