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