Sharples fosters a safe, happy and aspirational community for all, where students thrive and fulfil their potential. Our students do this not only through an ambitious curriculum, but also through opportunities that go above and beyond for our students to give them wide, rich opportunities to develop personally so that they can embody our school motto: ‘Learn, Dream and Achieve.’
At Sharples, we enhance pupil engagement and promote a love of literacy through not only having a Literacy Coordinator but also a Reading Coordinator, both who work together to ensure all students are supported by the correct pathway. We work to bridge the gap in reading ages by providing meaningful interventions, whilst also ensuring that across the whole school a love of reading is promoted through exciting events, competitions, investment into the library, clubs and interweaving literacy throughout our curriculum.
In our recent inspection (January 2025), Ofsted stated: ‘Reading is prioritised and promoted so that pupils are encouraged to read regularly for pleasure, for example, in the school library and as part of competitions.’ At Sharples, the library has been designed with students at the heart of it.
Form Time Reading
Our Form Time Reading programme is structured to enhance literacy and cultivate a shared cultural experience within each form group. Teachers engage in concurrent reading of a selected text with their students three times weekly, for twenty minutes per session. This consistent exposure to diverse literature promotes vocabulary acquisition, improved comprehension, and critical thinking skills, while fostering a sense of collective learning and shared cultural reference. The programme also encourages reading for pleasure, broadens students’ literary interests, and facilitates stronger teacher-student rapport. Through both teacher led and student led reading, students develop valuable listening and oracy skills, practising the Sharples SPEAK. At the end of each half term, staff are asked to nominate students who have read aloud confidently, clearly and fluently; these students are celebrated in Form Time and our Sharples Newsletter.
Library
Our Reading Coordinator and Librarian are proactive in ensuring that all students always have access to a book and data is looked at routinely to ensure students are taking out suitable books, the students who take the most books out are celebrated every half term with reward points, prizes and recognition in our Sharples Newsletter.
Since September, our library has been transformed from a Gamer’s Haven, to an Autumnal Paradise, to a Winter Wonderland and to a celebration of love for Valentine’s Day. Our most recent theme was Harry Potter for our celebration of World Book Week. The library was transformed with the tree (a creation from the mind of an English teacher) to the Whomping Willow with Ron’s infamous blue car dangling from it. The shelves were decorated with potions and even a ‘Restricted Section’ to pique the interests of our students. These themes are always connected with suggested reading and there are linked books for even the most reticent of readers to engage and enthuse our students.
Reading Intervention
Interventions are rigorously planned and undertaken alongside a thorough monitoring system to ensure that these are working or reviewed if not. Pupils love attending interventions and the astounding progress results demonstrate this alongside a very positive pupil voice. Pupils enthusiastically share that the literacy curriculum is meeting their needs and challenging them to make progress.
