Page 19 - The East Sussex Way

Section Two: Reading at the Point of Transition

Reading is the foundation of success at school and beyond. Readers
can learn about the wider world, and escape into other worlds.
Reading raises aspirations.

The Oxford Language Report (2021) has exposed the critical word
gap that has the potential to damage the progress of pupils at the
vulnerable point between primary and secondary. In response, The
East Sussex Way sets out some of the ways that pupils can ‘master
the most crucial of academic tools for our pupils: reading’ (Quigley,
2018).

In primary schools, pupils are taught to decode and comprehend,
applying a range of skills such as prediction, summarising and
inference. By the end of key stage 2, pupils are expected to read
and write ß uently so that they can progress into the secondary

phase, where the focus will shift from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to
learn’.

In secondary schools, the focus moves to disciplinary reading.
Here, the signiÞ cant skills are the ability to learn from and analyse
text, pull out relevant information, and understand subject-speciÞ c

vocabulary. Other well-documented aspects of transition – the move
to multiple teachers and teaching modes, to a larger, unknown
environment, and often a decline in monitored personal reading –
only exacerbate the reading demands of the secondary curriculum.

Some pupils are not ready for this transition. Year on year, one in
ten boys leave primary school with the reading skills of an average
seven year old, unable to read the simplest secondary school texts
(Ofsted, 2013). A government study (Renaissaance Learning and
Education Policy Institute, 2021) demonstrates the impact of the

Covid pandemic on reading ability: all year groups have decreased
in reading ability when compared to previous cohorts – by at least
one year.

Pupils will fall further behind if the gap is not closed, as assessment

and exam vocabulary becomes inaccessible. Data from 2018 shows
that fewer than one in Þ ve pupils who fail to reach their expected
reading age at the end of key stage 2 go on to achieve a grade 4 or
above in GCSE English (Quigley & Coleman, 2019). A quarter of pupils
at the age of 15 have a reading age of 12 or below
(GL Assessment, 2019). 14