Lily Staff

At Reach Academy Hanworth Park we are building a culture where pupils love reading. Watch the video to hear directly from some of our amazing pupils and read more about this in my blog for the Children’s Commissioner in link below.

Reflecting on the success of the reading programme at Reach Academy Hanworth Park, Lily Staff  | Children's Commissioner for England Lily Staff is the secondary English Lead at Reach Academy Hanworth Park, an all-through academy in Feltham, Hounslow. The school opened in September 2024

At Reach Academy Hanworth Park we are building a culture where loving to read is the norm. Read more about how we do this in my blog for the Children's Commissioner which reflects on our pupils' reading achievements.

www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/news-and-blo...

YouTube video by Reach Schools Year 7 love reading!

Look at this video of our children talking about the books they love! ALL our children now love reading but only 36% of them were reading at or above their chronological reading age in Sept. One of the major successes of this founding year!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SwS...

@lilystaff.bsky.social

Thanks Alex!

Hey Alex! Yes they read them with me in reading club.

3. Prioritising disciplinary literacy: all our staff have been committed to teaching reading and writing this year. Our reading routines, comprehension strategies and explicit teaching of vocabulary are consistent across the school.

2. Providing timely intervention: a third of our pupils took part in an online reading programme, Reading Plus, in order to improve fluency and comprehension, some received 1:1 phonics support and some attended a weekly reading club.

Increasing pupil engagement in reading - Reach Schools Find out how this West-London school is fostering a love of reading among its Year 7 students through diverse reading expectations, family engagement, and targeted interventions, addressing significan...

1. Building a culture where pupils genuinely like reading and reading regularly outside of school is the norm: read more about this in my blog here - reachschools.uk/reading-pupi...

Really proud of the progress our Year 7s have made with reading this year! In September only 37% were at or above their reading age compared with 75% now. Short thread below on how we have achieved this. 🧵

Discover how Reading Plus increased reading fluency and proficiency in Hounslow secondary students

Hear from @lilystaff.bsky.social about the amazing progress our children are making in their reading. So many came to us saying they hated reading. Each now are reading 3 books independently & talk about them constantly. It’s really special.
www.daisyeducationuk.com/impact/case-...

Today I’m in CityAM writing about how Everythingism holds back growth.

Original essay here reform.uk/publications...

For this week’s blog, I’ve written about the FAQs on our Everythingism essay!

Great to see so many commentators engaging with it, we’ll add more as we get more.

reading programme. The data has been staggering & we have a FREE reading event to explain why with @jonnybennett13.bsky.social. See details below:

We’ve achieved a lot this academic year so far but our biggest bets were on behaviour/ culture, attendance & reading.

Thanks to Charlie & rest of the team our attendance YTD is 98.2% & I’m super proud of how confident, articulate & kind our children are.

Then SO proud of @lilystaff.bsky.social’s…

In Sept 19% of our Year 7 were 5 years below their reading age on entry, now 6%. Just 37% were working at or above their chronological reading age now 56%.

Reading Plus has been genuinely transformative within a term. Come to our free event to find out how: bit.ly/4l5AqYn

Reading Plus has played a vital role in the progress our pupils have made in reading at Reach Academy Hanworth Park. Come to visit us on Monday 28th April to hear how we have successfully implemented the programme.

Registration link here - bit.ly/4l5AqYn

4. Pupils who may struggle to access the text independently can come along to a reading club where we read the story aloud in a small group. This sets these children up to feel successful in our Morning Meet.

3. We also facilitate weekly discussions about the book in our English Morning Meets. The children love sharing their predictions and contributing to debate topics inspired by events in the story.

2. Pupils read roughly 2 chapters per week meaning they experience plot developments alongside their peers - this means conversations about the book naturally arise between them.

1. Across the year, Y7 read 6 different books at home from our reading programme. We introduce them to a diverse set of genres, authors and characters and aim to broaden their horizons and support them to develop their love of reading.

At Reach Academy Hanworth Park, pupils in Y7 read the same book at home each half term as part of our reading programme. Our pupils love discussing characters/plot/predictions with their peers in our weekly English Morning Meets. Short thread on how we do this. 🧵

7 Misconceptions About Teaching Adolescents to Read The scale of the problem of students leaving secondary school unable to read is an unnecessary tragedy. This entirely preventable situation is exacerbated by some common misconceptions: 1 &n…

The scale of the problem of students leaving secondary school unable to read is an unnecessary tragedy. This entirely preventable situation is exacerbated by some common misconceptions:

Our blog explains more wp.me/p4hKgx-a2 (5 min read).

#EdublogUK

Yes there is research to show this. This lunchtime discussion is just one part of what we do to engage pupils with reading at our school.

We find the children really enjoy these discussions. They take place once a week in small groups and children can then volunteer to share with the year group.

Thank you so much Stephen - great to have you in the session!

Loved this session on vocabulary overlap between History and English from @mrptse.bsky.social and @michaeldoron.bsky.social. Gave me lots to think about. #rEDBrum

Had the best time presenting this morning @researchedbrum.bsky.social
about reading outside the classroom. Can’t wait for the rest of the day! #rEDBRUM

researchED Birmingham 2025 | ResearchED Join us again in sunny Brum for researchED Birmingham. As ever, we have the sharpest minds in education gathering en masse in Brum town. Go on bab, you know you [...]Read More...

Correct link: researched.org.uk/event/resear...

researchED Birmingham (UK) | ResearchED Join us again in sunny Brum for researchED Birmingham. As ever, we have the sharpest minds in education gathering en masse in Brum town. Go on bab, you know you [...]Read More...

Really excited to speak about getting pupils reading outside the classroom @researchedbrum.bsky.social next weekend! Get your tickets here 🎟️
researched.org.uk/event/resear...

4. We choose pupils to share with the whole room and celebrate these contributions as a year group.