The Tutor Reading Programme launches in January to Years 7-10 and aims to promote the enjoyment of reading as well as having proven results in increasing students’ reading age.

The books chosen for the programme have been selected to allow students access to a rich variety of literature. Alongside the fiction texts, students will spend one semester reading and discussing a variety of culturally diverse non-fiction texts.

Books have been carefully selected to be age appropriate, challenging, and enjoyable. They cover a vast range of topics that will engage and inspire our students and further promote a love of reading.

“This has helped me because it has given me the opportunity to learn how to become a better person and better my skills in some areas to help me become a more rounded individual, not just academically. It has also given me the opportunity to explore my interests and how I might use them to help people.”
Ruby M, Year 10

The books have also been chosen with the school’s values in mind. For example:

‘Rooftoppers’ by Katherine Rundell has multiple links with all of our core values: Resilience, Altruism, Ambition, Integrity and Respect. Set against a backdrop of Paris in the nineteenth century, Sophie sets out to find her mother. The beauty of the sky, music and a belief in ‘impossible things’ triumph as Sophie’s journey teaches her resilience in the face of adversity and the value of friendship.

‘Trash’ by Andy Mulligan explores both Resilience and Integrity. Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping on it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, the world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It’s a bag of clues. It’s a bag of hope. It’s a bag that will change everything.

‘Wolf Hollow’ by Lauren Wolk enables readers to consider the value of Integrity and Respect. Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty joins her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and while her bullying seems isolated at first, things quickly escalate, and reclusive World War I veteran Toby becomes a target of her attacks. While others have always seen Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. She will soon need to find the courage to stand as a lone voice of justice as tensions mount.

‘The Call’ by Peadar O’Guilin links with Integrity. From the age of 10, the Call is the moment every young person trains to survive, even grimly determined Nessa, who is permanently disabled from polio and can only navigate the training on crutches. One by one, students vanish, sometimes forever, into the Grey Land of the Sídhe.

Many of the books chosen for the programme have won various awards and are regarded as literary classics – some of which our students wouldn’t normally read. The programme aims to expose students to this rich variety of literature to not only promote the enjoyment of reading, but also to gain ‘cultural capital’ and to help shape their character.

Full List Of Books
YEAR 7 YEAR 8 YEAR 9 YEAR 10
Rooftoppers, Katherine Rundell Trash, by Andy Mulligan The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon Hatchet,
Gary Paulsen
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,
Judith Kerr
One,
Sarah Crossan
Wolf Hollow,
Lauren Wolk
The Call,
Peadar O’Guillin
Tulip Touch,
Anne Fine
Welcome to Nowhere, Elizabeth Laird The Rest of Us Just Live Here,
Patrick Ness
Maggot Moon,
Sally Gardner

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