Reading at Foxford
The development of reading is a key ambition at Foxford School; therefore we support all of our students to develop their reading skills across all subject areas. All teachers plan for reading and use a number of school-wide strategies to ensure that reading progression is taking place in all classrooms. Whether in Art, Maths, History or Science, all teachers consider how to enhance students’ reading abilities alongside their academic progress.
Three key strategies have been adopted across the school to ensure that reading is supported in all classrooms:
We know that progress in reading is a key factor for academic success. Consequently, we test for reading progress at key points across the year, and we plan for reading interventions accordingly
A number of Foxford staff have received accredited training in order to deliver the highly effective Lexonik programme. This is our 6-week intervention programme to support students to develop their reading skills at a rapid pace. This targeted, small-group support gives students a great boost in their reading skills, and develops the reading confidence required to be successful in the classroom.
We promote reading for pleasure at Foxford through our library and through our tutor-based reading programme. Our library is stocked with an excellent range of fiction and non-fiction books, and is regularly updated with award winning contemporary reads. We believe that every student should be able to see themselves in a book – and we believe that they can in our library!
Our tutor reading programme enhances the reading that takes place across the curriculum. Tutors share a new opening chapter of a novel each week and lead a discussion around this. Across the year, students are exposed to over 30 extracts that they might not otherwise have discovered and explored, building knowledge of a variety of contemporary authors and genres.
We want all of our students to develop excellent reading habits and to recognise the benefits of reading on their progress and their wellbeing; therefore, reading for pleasure is rewarded as part of our Graduation system.
Reading Events at Foxford
| Date | Event |
| October | Star Wars Reads month National poetry day: Environment theme – Thursday 6 October Black history month |
| November | National non-fiction November – Communication theme |
| December | Foxford festive reading month |
| January | Winnie the Pooh day – Wednesday 18 January |
| February | National storytelling week – w/c 30 January Harry Potter book night – Thursday 2 February |
| March | World Book Day – Thursday 2 March World Poetry Day – Tuesday 21 March Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medal shortlist |
| April | Foxford Star Reads |
| May | Elmer day – Thursday 25 May Children’s Sports book of the year |
| June | Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medal winners |
| July | Summer reading challenge |
Oracy at Foxford
At Foxford, we recognise that the ability to communicate clearly, articulately and with confidence is linked to positive outcomes, both academically and socially. Therefore, students are taught the key features of how to speak effectively through our oracy provision. Teachers deliberately plan for opportunities to build oracy into their lessons, and ensure that opportunities for student talk are a regular feature across the curriculum.
The Foxford oracy symbol is used in lessons to indicate that students will participate verbally in their learning.
Foxford is currently a Voice 21 school (the national charity for oracy education) and is working towards meeting each of the Voice 21 Oracy Benchmarks. The Voice 21 oracy framework guides our oracy planning, in which we address the physical, linguistic, cognitive and social-emotional aspects of oracy.
At Foxford, a key resource used across all subject areas is student Talk Tactics.
Students use talk tactic prompts to engage with different types of talk, to participate critically in discussions and to learn from each other.
