At St Bede’s, reading sits at the heart of our mission to help every student flourish – academically, personally and socially. We believe that reading is not only a gateway to lifelong success, but also a powerful tool for widening horizons, building empathy, and strengthening confidence. Through high-quality classroom practice and targeted intervention, we ensure that every young person develops the reading skills they need to thrive.

Tutor Time Reading

At St Bede’s, daily tutor time reading is a cornerstone of our whole-school commitment to literacy. Each tutor group engages in shared reading, where tutors model fluent, expressive reading aloud while students follow along using reading rulers to support focus and tracking. This approach is grounded in strong evidence: hearing skilled reading enhances comprehension, improves vocabulary acquisition, and supports the development of fluent internal reading.

Our programme uses carefully selected, age-appropriate texts that expose students to rich language, diverse ideas, and compelling narratives. These texts spark discussion, deepen cultural capital, and foster a shared reading culture across the school. Through routine exposure to high-quality writing, students at St Bede’s develop the confidence, fluency and enjoyment that underpin successful reading for life.

Reading Intervention at St Bede’s

We recognise that students’ reading journeys progress at different paces. To ensure every learner receives the right support, St Bede’s uses the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) to assess reading accuracy, comprehension and overall reading age. This allows us to identify specific areas of reading need and place certain students on the most suitable intervention pathway where a student’s reading skills would be a barrier to accessing the curriculum.

Our intervention provision includes two targeted programmes that are delivered by trained staff:

1. Read Write Inc. Fresh Start (Phonics Pathway)
For students requiring support with early reading and phonics, we deliver the Read Write Inc. Fresh Start programme, a structured, research-based approach to phonics that develops decoding skills, sound-letter knowledge and reading confidence. This ensures that students with a phonics need can build a strong foundation and can access the wider curriculum with increasing independence.

2. Fluency Development Programme
For students who can decode words but struggle with reading fluency, we offer a dedicated fluency intervention (Fast Forward to Fluency) that is designed to strengthen pace, accuracy, expression and reading stamina. Through repeated oral reading, modelling, and guided practice, students become more fluent, confident readers who are better able to comprehend and enjoy what they read.

Across both pathways, our aim is the same: to ensure every student at St Bede’s can read confidently and successfully, opening the door to future learning, achievement and opportunity.

If you would like to know more about reading in St Bede’s, you can contact Mr R. Gardner, our Reading Lead, at the following email address:

rgardner@stb.bwcet.org