Washington Academy understands how important literacy is to ensure our students can achieve their very best in lessons and in the examinations. However, being confident readers, writers and speakers is vital if our young people are to be successful adults in the wider society.

At Washington Academy students are involved in a pilot scheme called ‘Reading Wise’ to improve their literacy skills. For most students the vocabulary module will support greater fluency and rich vocabulary, for some students who need a little more support the comprehension module supports students to understand what they have been reading with more confidence. For others, the de-coding module supports early readers to develop fluency and students who require a higher degree of support benefit from the sip module which uses a phonics approach to developing reading skills.

Students in Year 7, 8 and 9 read for pleasure every day and students in Year 10 and 11 take part in planned purposeful reading during the course of their lessons to improve their understanding of richer academic text.

Our curriculum is ambitious for all learners and we have deliberately embedded challenging texts into the heart of our curriculum. This includes a study of Dickens’, Great Expectations in year 7 and Noughts and Crosses in year 9. We are proud to include texts that are written by authors from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

The school library is available during break and lunchtimes and our team of Literacy Leaders ensure that all students have access to a reading book. Students at Key Stage Three are required to carry a reading book as part of their school equipment.