Literacy and robust reading

At Dixons City Academy, one of our key priorities is to improve the literacy of all our students. Research indicates that there is a strong correlation between high literacy levels and academic achievement and, interestingly, the likelihood of leading a happy and fulfilled life.

On a daily basis, we encourage great literacy by using our in-house literacy processes for reading, writing and speaking and our shared speaking and listening expectations. We encourage students to 'track the speaker' and challenge all students to speak in Standard English. All teachers use literacy codes when marking work and encourage students to use subject terminology when speaking and in their written work.

Please click on the below links to find out how you can further develop your child’s literacy at home. You can also access reading lists, designed by Post 16 Literacy Leaders, so your child selects a book that they will enjoy and also be challenged by.

In January 2019, we introduced daily Robust Reading sessions for all students:

We are passionate that all students at Dixons City Academy are fluent readers who love reading. That is why every student in Year 7 to 10 has a 20 minute Robust Reading session every day. In Robust Reading students spend time reading a quality, challenging book, which their tutor reads aloud to the group. The vision for Robust Reading is to ensure that every student reads high quality and challenging texts so they are instilled with the knowledge to think critically and creatively. We also want our students to enjoy reading and become confident readers who read both at school and at home. The books range from classic Victorian novels to modern dystopian thrillers.

The 3 Key Aims of Robust Reading

1. Better Readers - increase student’s reading ability, fluency, and vocabulary through the “whole word method.”

2. Better People – research suggests that when you read about an experience you feel it as if it happened to you, not just the character you are reading about; in Robust Reading students read a wide variety of books from a wide variety of perspectives and this encourages students to be more tolerant of others and develop their Cultural Capital.

3. Love Reading – we want all of our students to develop a lifelong love of reading - to be able to, and have experience of, reading a wide variety of texts.

The books selected for Robust Reading have been carefully chosen and will provide students with a variety of literary experiences. This may mean that, on occasion, they are exposed to some words or references which are of a sensitive nature e.g. sexual references or swear words. As with any such content, staff will approach this appropriately and explain the context required for students to accept these issues with maturity and understanding.

Our aim is to enthuse students through this daily reading opportunity and we ask that as parents and carers, you show interest at home and discuss their robust reading book with your child, even if it is not something you have read yourself. You can find the robust reading book list below.