Reading

We believe that reading is fundamental to education and vital for students’ success.

Students who struggle with their reading are likely to struggle across the curriculum.

At Weldon Village Academy, we are committed to supporting our students to become skilled readers that can read to an age-appropriate level and fluency.

Our Reading Charter expresses this commitment, along with our understanding of what students need to progress into skilled readers, and how we go about achieving this.

We develop students’ reading within and across our mainstream curriculum, as well as providing further support and interventions where needed.

Developing a Culture of Reading

2026 is the National Year of Reading and at Weldon Village Academy we are embracing the opportunity to shout about the difference reading from a young age can make.

Recent research has shown some worrying trends. In 2025 National Literacy Trust research found that:

• Just 1 in 3 (32.7%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time.
• The drop in reading enjoyment over the last year has been especially steep among boys aged 11 to 16.

Yet the evidence also shows that when young people enjoy reading, they read more often, helping to build vital reading skills and bringing wider benefits for wellbeing, confidence and learning.

We are on a mission at Weldon Village Academy to ensure that all students benefit from a culture of reading while at school. From visiting the library, helping us to stock it with new titles or reading in their own free time, everyone has a part to play.

Events have been planned across this year to promote and celebrate reading. At Weldon Village Academy, we introduced The National Year of Reading’s ‘Take Ten’ to read approach by launching Red January. Students were challenged to read something every day for the whole month. We had an overwhelming number of entries and are looking to reward students with prizes, PLEDGEs and a trip to a local independent bookshop.

In early March we will be celebrating World Book Day with several events, including an interactive workshop with Read Write Sparks called ‘The Secret Life of Stuff’ and a live performance from poet, Mark Grist. All students will receive their £1 World Book Day token so they can purchase a book of their choice in shops or online.

How Parents can Help

• Please support your child to complete their SPARX Reader home learning every week.
• Encourage your child to read for pleasure. It can be anything from books, leaflets, magazines, audiobooks, etc.
• Check out your local libraries which can loan books but also support reading through workshops and community events.
• Be a reading role model. Read in the home and talk about the power of stories and books.
• If your child likes computer games or TV shows, signpost them to similar styles and genres with books.
• Share ideas from the poster below.

Powerful Words

Powerful Words is a brilliant 5-year vocabulary programme that students begin in Year 7, and finish in Year 11. It is delivered once a week during tutor time, across all the schools in our trust. The programme aims to build knowledge of ‘academic’ vocabulary and to develop word decoding skills.

We are quite competitive about Powerful Words at Weldon Village Academy! Students complete half termly quizzes to test how much they have learned. At the end of the year, the Powerful Words Champions Cup is awarded to the school with the best quiz results in our trust. We are keen to get to the top of the leader board and bring that trophy home! For more information about our ‘Powerful Words’ programme please see below