Overview 

Twice a week, during PLaN, learners in Years 7 to 9 are read to in their tutor groups. Form tutors read texts that explore a diverse range of themes and ideas, from a wide range of cultures and traditions. By reading to learners, we provide them with opportunities to strengthen their vocabularies and experience stories that they may not normally encounter. In addition to providing our learners with access to some of the best, most diverse, fiction available, the programme is also designed to complement the curriculum, allowing learners to draw links to ideas, themes and figures studied in their lessons.

Key Details

When? Twice a week during PLaN.

Where? In form tutor classrooms.

How? Trained form tutors read to their tutees, who all follow along with their own copy of the text.

Which texts? See the overview below for which texts are allocated to which year group.

Why? There is significant evidence to suggest that being read to regularly is one of the most effective ways to improve academic performance. It broadens learners’ vocabularies and their comprehension skills, both of which are essential for success both in and out of school.

Key benefits of reading together:

• A social experience that builds a sense of community and belonging.
• Regular modelling of fluent, passionate reading delivered by tutors.
• Exposure to countless words and phrases not found in everyday dialogue.
• Coverage of a wealth of themes and concepts that are invaluable for personal development.
• Ongoing improvement of independent reading skills.

Strategies to support your child reading at home

• Be interested and ask about the books being read in PLaN.
• Be sensitive and ensure your child has the chance to discuss delicate themes that arise.
• Be relaxed and offer a calm, stressfree environment that cultivates reading enthusiasm.
• Be an example and let your child see you reading for pleasure on a regular basis.

The Year 7 PLaN Canon

• When the Sky Falls – Phil Earle
• Boy 87 – Elle Fountain
• Rat – Patrice Lawrence
• A Kind of Spark – Elle McNicoll
• Ghost Boys – Jewell Parker Rhodes
• The Star Outside My Window – Onjali Q. Rauf

The Year 8 PLaN Canon

• The Bone Sparrow – Zana Fraillon
• The Children of Willesden Lane – Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen
• The Island at the End of Everything – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• Lies We Tell Ourselves – Robin Talley
• The Goldfish Boy – Lisa Thompson
• Windrush Child – Benjamin Zephaniah

The Year 9 PLaN Canon

• The Black Flamingo – Dean Atta
• Heroes – Robert Cormier
• All the Things That Could Go Wrong – Stewart Foster
• Once – Morris Gleitzman
• Wonder – R. J. Palacio
• Terror Kid – Benjamin Zephaniah