Today Ofsted has published a research report looking at how high-performing secondary schools provide targeted support for struggling readers
Reading is essential to every subject and children who cannot read well will find it difficult to keep up with the demands of secondary school.
Read the report: ‘Now the whole school is reading’: supporting struggling readers in secondary school
Each year around one-quarter of 11-year-olds do not meet the expected standard in reading at the end of primary school. Fewer than 1 in 5 of these pupils can expect to get a GCSE grade 4 in English. Being unable to read well can often also lead to poor behaviour. The consequences of poor reading extend beyond school, as evidence shows that adults with low literacy are likely to have fewer job opportunities and a lower income.
The aim of our study was to explore how schools make sure that pupils who leave primary school unable to read age-appropriate books fluently can become proficient readers and keep up with all their other curriculum subjects.
The 6 schools we visited for the research were chosen because a higher-than-expected proportion of their initially poor readers achieved a pass in English language at GCSE.
In these schools, we found that:
Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said:
The research visits to the 6 secondary schools took place in March 2022.