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Reading and Literacy

It is the right of every student in our school to be taught the skills they need in order to be successful. According to leaders in education; Our ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of our emotions, our thinking, our learning and our sense of personal identity. Language is itself a key aspect of our culture.”

For this reason, literacy is at the heart of the UHS curriculum. As part of our “every adult reads” approach, students begin their day with Form Time reading of their Literary Canon book.  With selections such as; “I am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai for Year 7 to “The Curious Incident Of the Dog In The Night-Time” by Mark Haddon for Year 11, every student in the school experiences high quality reading. This encourages students to develop reading fluency as they regularly listen to confident readers and also have the opportunity to read aloud. We have a library we are proud of with a range of interesting books for every learner and all abilities.

As part of our aim to promote a love of reading in all students, we have introduced our new reading platform.  ePlatform can be accessed through the tab on this page or students can download the App for their phone or tablet. Students can borrow up to two books at time and have two weeks to read each book after which time it will be automatically returned.  If there are any books that you feel we could add to our collection, please pass a message on to the student’s English teacher.  Even by reading 20 minutes a day, you expose yourself to 1.8 million words in a year.  Our library also offers an excellent range of audiobooks.  It is important to follow the text when listening to an audiobook as this will help students to remember new vocabulary that they learn.  Reading is an integral part of the curriculum and culture of the school and students are encouraged to read books across a variety of genres.

Year 7 will also be following a programme from Bedrock learning that will develop their vocabulary and grammar skills.  In order for this programme to have its full impact, students will need to spend at least 20 minutes each week completing a vocabulary task and 25 minutes each week completing a grammar task. You can access Bedrock using the tab on this page.

As literacy plays such a large part of every curriculum subject, each department has created wider reading lists for each topic being studied this Half Term. We encourage all students to read additional texts to support their learning within every subject and you will find a variety of fiction and nonfiction options by following the Curriculum Wider Reading tab.

Effective literacy skills are required to access all aspects of the curriculum. This continues into the 6th Form with students recognising that higher education and future employers value good literacy. We ensure students are reading widely and often and that they are given every opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills. We also want students to enjoy developing these skills and there will be many opportunities throughout the Year for students to enter competition of get involved in World Book Day.