Reading at Da Vinci Academy

Year 6 – Summer Reading Newsletter

KS3 and KS4 Transition – Summer Reading Newsletter

Da Vinci Academy is committed to providing high quality reading opportunities for all pupils. We believe that reading for pleasure is a vital part of everyday life. We actively encourage pupils to develop a love of reading: this will enable them to interact with texts not only as entertainment, but also as portals to development. We follow the synthesis of research provided by Doug Lemov’s book, ‘Reading Reconsidered’ which surmises that there are four key reading priorities when it comes to learning.

The four key reading priorities are:

Read harder texts

‘Close read’ texts vigorously and intentionally

Read more non-fiction more effectively

Write more effectively in direct response to texts

We believe that, by equipping teachers with need-to-know reading approaches, students will better understand – and enjoy reading – the texts they encounter during their learning journey.

DVA Reading

DVA is committed to providing a Reading Programme to help all students achieve their potential. Research has shown that reading is just as important for secondary students as it is for younger years. As a school, we are delighted to launch DVA Reading which will see students reading from a wide ranging canon, encompassing the best that has ever been written!

Four times per week, students will be read to by their form tutor whilst they follow along in their own book. An example of the texts we will be reading are:

Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah – Year 7

Northern Lights, Phillip Pullman – Year 8

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee – Year 9

Touching the Void, Joe Simpson – Year 10

Once a class has finished reading their first book, they will move onto one of the following books:

Y7

Boy, Roald Dahl

The Hunger Games, Book 1, Suzanne Collins

Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah

Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibotson

My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece, Annabel Pitcher

After Tomorrow, Gillian Cross

Y8

Bog Child, Siobhan Dowd

Little Women, Louisa M Alcott

1984, George Orwell

Me, My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell

Northern Lights, Philip Pullman  

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Canon Arthur Doyle

Y9

Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

Outsiders, S. E. Hinton

Journey to Jo’burg, Beverley Naidoo

Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank

Y10

Touching the Void, Joe Simpson

Life of Pi, Yann Martel

Lord of the Flies, William Golding

Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald