Links to other useful pages
Great Cornard Library - https://tgschool.net/library
TGS 50 Book List - https://tgschool.net/page/%20tgs-50-book-list
Books - Search Books - Suffolk Libraries
Speak Out Suffolk Final
New Group Reading Tests (NGRTs)
All students in Key Stage 3 complete a reading assessment during the Autumn term. The NGRT (New Group Reading Test) is designed to look closely at students' reading and comprehension skills, including phonics where necessary. The test has two parts: sentence completion (which measures decoding with some element of comprehension) and passage comprehension (which measures a range of comprehension skills of increasing difficulty).
Students complete the online version, which is adaptive, so it responds to the level of the individual as they take the test. Standard age scores (SAS) are generated automatically on completion and these are available to staff and families. The test takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Teachers use the NGRT results, together with other summative tests, to plan the best way to support students in their class and identify students who would benefit from one of our reading support programmes.
Sounds-Write Phonics Programme
Our Phonics Intervention team are qualified Sounds-Write practitioners. Our learners are highlighted during transition from year 6 and through our school assessments as they settle into year 7. We currently support students across all year groups, identifying students from their NGRT data and staff feedback. Each learner completes a diagnostic assessment before starting their program which in some cases means that we signpost them to a more suitable intervention. We are the first step in our schools Literacy Support offer and our tailored program stretches across 24 weeks covering 38 sounds and focusing on 'one sound, different spellings'. We see our learners twice a week and our timetables are staggered to reduce impact on their core learning. With this in mind, our KS4 student's intervention takes place during registration. Sessions are interactive and the learners are centred at the heart of our delivery. We look to build on current knowledge of sound recognition and manipulation, developing skills in placing and writing different sound spellings, as well as supporting confidence in their reading proficiency. We see the best results in our learners who regularly and positively engage in the program, and they are formatively assessing throughout their program. Learners take such pride in their work when they are able to put into practise the skills that they have learnt in our sessions. We are the first valuable step in our unwavering journey to improve reading and spelling in our school.
Herts for Learning Reading Fluency programme
This reading intervention focuses on building confidence and skills for both reading aloud and comprehension, working on the idea that the better fluency and prosody a student has, the stronger their understanding of what they're reading will be, and consequently the better learning outcomes they will have across the curriculum.
The intervention takes place during the school day and lasts for eight weeks (with a short YARC test at the start and end to measure progress). It comprises of two small group sessions per week. The first session focuses on reading aloud with students practising their prosody through echo reading, repeated re-reading and performance reading. In the second session, students work on their comprehension skills through targeted questioning and discussion. Over the course of the intervention students will explore a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, including some which feature on the TGS 50 and Non-Fiction 50.
This programme has been running since 2021 and has successfully supported hundreds of students to improve their reading and comprehension. The course is well received by students as it offers the chance to practise reading aloud in a safe, judgement-free environment. Even the most reluctant readers are usually happy to engage by the end of the course! Another feature of the Herts programme is that it does not require any written work - everything is done through talk - and so it supports oracy as well as reading fluency. As we explore a different text every week, students are exposed to genres and styles that they would not normally consider. In fact, many students are surprised to find that they enjoy texts, which they initially say are boring, once the unfamiliar vocabulary has been decoded and the words and rhythms practised. By the end of the course, the texts are of an aspirational level and students are always so proud of themselves and what they have achieved.
At the end of the course, we always have an exit survey for students to complete. Responses are overwhelmingly popular after each round and most students ask if they can carry on reading because they have enjoyed the course and its content. This is matched by the consistent improvement shown in the YARC test data.
