'That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.' – Jhumpa Lahiri

At Ormiston Venture Academy, we believe that it is our collective challenge to open our student's eyes to the magic and power of words and the opportunities that this can bring for them in their futures. We aim to cultivate an environment where reading for pleasure is a fundamental part of every single student’s journey.

Reading enables our students to discover new worlds, meet new people and learn about the past, but it also have the power to transform lives. By sparking growing imaginations, stimulating critical thinking and helping to develop empathy, reading gives our students the very skills they need to succeed at school, at work and in life.

It is undeniable that being able to read confidently is an essential life skill; the importance of reading just for pleasure should not be underestimated. Study after study has shown how reading for pleasure is vital for academic success, mental health and even later economic success

At Ormiston Venture Academy Reading for Pleasure is promoted through:

• Our Read Aloud Programme
• Regular LRC (Learning Resource Centre) lessons for all students in Years 7 and 8
• Reading for Pleasure in English lessons
• Use of Accelerated Reader
• The selection of high quality texts across the curriculum that are embedded in lessons
• Half termly piece of wider reading of a high quality text (found in our Venture Vitals) set for extended learning
• Programme of events and spotlighting of reading for pleasure

Our students have embarked upon an adventure into literature in our Read Aloud Programme during their afternoon Personalised Learning time. With carefully selected texts, students are immersed in a widely cultural experience, whether that is through Orwell revealing his dystopian world of ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ or Martel's "Life of Pi".

Students read a range of books including:

• The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien
• When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr
• The Outsiders – S.E Hinton
• I am Malala - Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
• In the Sea there are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda
• Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
• 1984 - George Orwell
• You Are Awesome - Matthew Syed
• Northern Lights – Philip Pullman
• The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
• A Short History of Everything - Bill Bryson

Students are supported with their reading across the curriculum through a range of strategies in the classroom. This could be explicit teaching of skimming and scanning; pre-teaching of vocabulary or focused comprehension questions.

Some students are identified for additional reading support and may receive this from the Success Centre.

Supporting Your Child With Reading At Home

For readers who know their reading preferences, browsing strategies may include looking for:

• Favourite authors
• Authors you’ve heard of and are interested in reading
• Titles heard about from family, friends, and reviews
• Favourite genre sections if books are arranged this way
• Recently returned books
• New book displays
• Books that look new – up to date and in good condition.

For readers who are unsure of their reading preferences, selection strategies may also include:

• Consider interests
• The Goldilocks strategy — is this book too easy, too hard, or just right?
• The five finger rule — identifying the number of difficult words on a page, so the reader can evaluate if the text is at the right level.

When looking at a new book:

• Look at the title and the cover – does it appeal?
• Read the book jacket blurb – does it interest you? Give different genres a chance.
• Read the first page or two.
• Read information about the author on the jacket.
• Look at print size for ease-of-reading.
• Listen to friends, teachers, parents and librarians’ suggestions.
• Look for popular authors and series.
• Use the catalogue to look up authors, titles and subjects that interest you.
• Ask for booklists and check displays.
• Give a book a fair chance – read several pages or chapters.

Reading Strategy: Skimming

Skimming means to read a text quickly to get an overview of the meaning. It is a reading technique that can help you:

• Read more quickly
• Decide if the text is interesting and whether you should read it in more detail.

You might use skimming to:

• See what’s in the news in a paper or on a website
• Browse through a book to see if you want to read it
• Look through the television guide to see what’s on one evening
• Flick through a catalogue to see what’s on offer
• Look through the options given on a Google search to see what sites it suggests

When you use the skimming technique, you don’t read the whole text word for word. You should use as many clues as possible to give you some background information. There might be pictures or images related to the topic, or an eye-catching title. Let your eyes skim over the surface of the text and look out for key words while thinking about any clues you’ve found about the subject.

Tips: better skimming

• Read the title, subtitles and subheadings to find out what the text is about.
• Look at the illustrations to give you more information about the topic.
• Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
• Don’t read every word or every sentence. Let your eyes skim over the text and look out for key words.
• Continue to think about the meaning of the text.

Reading Strategy: Scanning

Scanning is searching a text quickly to pick out key information. You can use the scanning technique to look up a phone number, read through the small ads in a newspaper, or for browsing television schedules, timetables, lists, catalogues or webpages for information. For these tasks you don’t need to read or understand every word.

Scanning is also useful when you don’t have time to read every word. This could be when you’re studying or looking for specific information from a book or article and need to find it quickly

You might use scanning to:

• Look up a word in a dictionary or index
• Find an address or a phone number in a directory
• Check what time your programme is on television
• Look up details or prices in a catalogue
• Pick out the website you want from options on a Google search

Tips: better scanning

• Don’t try to read every word. Instead let your eyes move quickly across the page until you find what you’re looking for.
• Use clues on the page, such as headings and titles, to help you.
• In a dictionary or phone book, use the header words to help you scan. You can find these in bold type at the top of each page.
• If you’re reading for study, start by thinking up or writing down some questions that you want to answer. Doing this can focus your mind and help you find the facts or information that you need more easily.
• Many texts list things in alphabetical order from A to Z. These include everyday materials, such as the phone book or indexes to books and catalogues.
• There are many ways to practise scanning skills. Try looking up a favourite recipe in the index of a cookbook,