At Chiltern Academy, reading is our key whole-school priority. We firmly believe that the ability to read fluently and with strong comprehension is the foundation for success across all subjects and stages of education. That’s why we have embedded reading into every aspect of school life — supporting both academic achievement and a lifelong love of reading.

We are proud to have established a strong whole-school reading culture, where reading is valued, promoted and celebrated by staff and students alike. From English lessons to form time, subject-specific reading activities to extra-curricular opportunities, reading is at the heart of the Chiltern Academy experience.

To help foster this culture, we offer a wide range of reading initiatives designed to expose pupils to ambitious texts, broaden their vocabulary, and strengthen their reading confidence. We place particular importance on the development of reading fluency and comprehension skills, which are essential for students to access the full curriculum and engage meaningfully with the world around them.

Our school library plays a central role in this vision. It is a well-stocked and welcoming space, filled with fiction, non-fiction, and subject-specific texts. Pupils are encouraged to use the library before school, during lunch, and after school—for reading, research, completing homework, or accessing ICT facilities in a quiet and focused environment.

As part of their English curriculum, Key Stage 3 pupils have regular, timetabled library lessons. These sessions promote reading for pleasure while also supporting academic progress. Students in KS3 take part in the Reading Plus programme—an adaptive online platform that personalises each pupil’s reading journey and helps develop key comprehension and fluency skills. Teachers use this data to monitor progress and provide targeted support where needed.

To reinforce the habit of reading, all students are expected to read at home for a minimum of 20 minutes each day. Their reading is monitored in fortnightly library lessons by English teachers and our school librarian. We also provide regular in-school opportunities through Subject Specific DEAR Time (Drop Everything and Read)—where pupils engage with reading in different subjects—and our weekly Reading Forms, where tutor groups read and reflect on a shared text.

A key addition to our reading provision is the new Reading Room, a dedicated space that offers a welcoming and comfortable environment for reading for pleasure, small-group work, and targeted reading interventions. The Reading Room has quickly become a valued area of the school, supporting a calm and focused atmosphere for learning. It is also the home of our successful Reading Fluency Programme, where students have made clear gains in both spoken confidence (oracy) and reading comprehension.

At Chiltern Academy, we are passionate about creating confident, capable, and curious readers.