Literacy

Literacy is at the heart of everything we do at Trinity Academy Leeds, and we have built a strong reading culture underpinned by our consistent, high-quality literacy strategies embedded across the academy. We have a shared vision that all students leave Trinity Academy Leeds as fluent readers, confident writers and articulate orators. We are committed to ensuring that no student leaves Trinity Academy Leeds with a reading age below their chronological age, and literacy is never a barrier to achievement.

Mr A Levick

Teacher of Reading

I will ensure that all students receive the support and guidance they need to be a successful, fluent and confident reader.

Mr Levick studied English Literature up to masters degree level, before embarking on a career as a primary school teacher. After qualifying, he gained a National Professional Qualification in Leading Literacy and became the subject leader for all aspects of English at the primary school level. He has contributed to both magazines and podcasts about English and reading and now specialises in supporting struggling readers at the secondary school level.

As the Teacher of Reading, my role is about equipping all students with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to become fluent readers. At TAL, we are collectively working towards the goal that no student leaves with a reading age below that of their chronological age. Whether this is delivered through specific phonics instruction or a reading fluency intervention, students receive support that is individualised to their needs.

Intervention for struggling readers

Alongside our curriculum and literacy toolkit, we provide interventions to strengthen our student’s learning and ensuring extra support is given where required. Our interventions are currently delivered through Lexonik Leap and our bespoke Reading Fluency programme.

Lexonik Leap

Lexonik Leap is a phonics-based intervention that aims to equip students with a strong understanding of letter sounds. This focuses on developing students’ knowledge of the sounds individual letters make (such as c, k and ck all making the /k/ sound) and the different sounds that combinations of letters can make (such as ow making different sounds in elbow and cow). Through this intervention, students are taught to decode, segment and blend words, improving reading at a word-based level.

Reading Fluency

We have designed a bespoke, bookletised reading fluency intervention to support readers who have secured their phonics knowledge but may not be a fluent reader. Based on the reading lesson approach and a wide range of research, the interventions follow an eight step model:

Activating Prior Knowledge
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
Read Along with a Rule
Echo Reading
Paired Reading
Oral Rehearsal and Read Aloud
Summarising
Comprehension

Each year group has their own, bespoke reading fluency intervention with age-appropriate texts and links to the curriculum to help secure knowledge and build schema further. These sessions are delivered in 6-weekly cycles during reading lessons, so that no students miss out on curriculum lessons. The intervention aims to increase both reading speed and accuracy, whilst also equipping students with methods and techniques to approach unfamiliar words and break them down.

TAL Library

Mr N Harling

Library Manager & Snr Wellbeing & Progress Tutor

The TAL Library is the heart of the school and, as such, we encourage all students to regularly visit.

Mr Harling studied a BSc in Physical Geography at Edge Hill University, before moving to London and taking his first role in the education sector as a Cover Supervisor and Curriculum Support Assistant. Here, he found a passion for working with young people and was able to combine this with his love of reading in his next role as Library Manager. After 9 years of working in a number of schools across London and Leeds, with students of all ages from Reception to Sixth Form, he joins TAL with a wealth of experience in supporting children, not only with reading and literacy, but also in providing a vital safe and welcoming space for all.

Whether to browse through our diverse collection of over 6000 books, to quietly read or complete Sparx Homework, or simply to enjoy the calm and peaceful atmosphere that the library offers. A strong reading culture will always be an integral part of TAL, which is why we ask that all students have a challenging reading book with them every day. To support them with this, we ensure the library’s stock is updated regularly with new and exciting literature, including any books that have been specifically requested by students using our suggestion boxes. Whilst providing a bespoke library experience for all children is vital, we also recognise the importance of students owning their own books and so we endeavour to give all of our students books free of charge at every available opportunity with initiatives like Book Buzz or Bookcember.

Other than providing students with an exciting collection of resources, we offer a number of initiatives throughout the year too, including lectures, Year 10 revision sessions, various reading challenges and student leadership opportunities. We have over 25 Student Librarians and Reading Ambassadors working in the library as part of our Student Leadership programme. These students keep the library running efficiently and offer a high standard of service, all the while learning important skills that they will take with them into any future jobs.

Building Stories

Building Stories takes place every Tuesday during Morning Recall with our Year 7 cohort. During this time, Mr Hale will read a novel aloud to the whole year group to enjoy the power of storytelling as a community.

For Year 8 & 9, Building Stories takes place within our weekly Reading Lesson in English. Here, a member of the English Department will read a novel aloud to the whole class whilst the students track the story under the teacher’s visualiser.

With on-demand streaming services, the concept of serialised storytelling has been lost, so we aim to create those “I can’t wait to find out what happens next week” moments.

This year, students will read:

Year 7 – ‘Kick’ by Mitch Johnson
Year 8 – ‘Run Rebel’ by Manjeet Mann and ‘When the World Was Ours’ by Liz Kessler
Year 9 – ‘Rebel Skies’ by Ann Sei Lin

Home Learning

We encourage our students to read as often as possible and advise them to spend 30 minutes every day reading a fascinating book. They can read anything, from a graphic novel, an edge-of-your-seat mystery or a biography of a ground-breaking innovator.

Students in KS3 (Year 7, 8 & 9) also complete their compulsory task set via Sparx Reader (www.sparxreader.com)to ensure:

Every student does meaningful, independent reading every week.

You can find out more details about what Sparx Reader is, and how it works here: https://leeds.trinitymat.org/home-learning/sparx-reader/

Academic Vocabulary

Our students are exposed to high-level academic texts in every single subject. We ensure that academic words and phrases are explicitly taught so that students are equipped with the skill to use them confidently in a variety of contexts. As part of the process, the learners listen to the teacher modelling the correct use of a word before engaging in a short discussion with a partner and producing a short written response.

Reading Lessons

We have planned a reading programme which uses one hour per week of English curriculum time and is delivered by the English department.

It is a bookletised curriculum, and each lesson has a quality text which has been chosen because it meets our key criteria: literary value; broad range of voices; range of forms and genres; appropriate level of challenge for the year group; compliments and enhances our English academic curriculum.

We follow a 5-step model to explicitly teach effective reading strategies to students:

Activating prior knowledge
Read with a Rule
Echo reading
Summary
Explicit vocabulary instruction

Author Visits

We have had the privilege of hosting Mitch Johnson, the author of Kick, and Liz Kessler, the author of When the World Was Ours.

The students took part in an inspiring assembly with both and were able to chat with the novelists asking them about forthcoming titles and the secrets to writing an award-winning book.

Rob Bradley, world championship-winning freestyle rapper, a published poet and a multiple time TEDx talker, has led a poetry workshop which culminated in four of our students entering and winning the Leeds Secondary Schools’ Poetry Slam 2023!

Bilingual Book Buddies

Ms E Bendle

Lead Teacher, MFL & EAL

The benefits of bilingualism are endless, including: strengthening cognitive abilities, developing social-emotional skills, improving career and travel prospects, and preventing the decline of brain functioning.

Ms Bendle studied a BA in Modern Languages and European Studies (French and Spanish) at the University of Bath and has a MA in Leadership in Education from University College London. She is currently Lead teacher for MFL and EAL at TAL. Her role entails supporting our multilingual students to complete their heritage language GCSEs and co-ordinating the Bilingual Book Buddies book club to support students with their reading.

Bilingual Book Buddies is a scheme which supports our students to develop their vocabulary and reading skills. New to English students are paired with an advanced multilingual learner to read together in English using the Penguin Early Reading Programme.