Bolton Islamic Girls School

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Curriculum Statement Reading

“Read in the name of your Lord who created – Created man from a clinging substance. Read and your Lord is the most Generous – Who taught by the pen – Taught man that which he knew not.”

Quran, 96: 1-5

The first revelation that Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon them) was the commandment for his people to seek knowledge, through the spirit of Iqra’ (reading). Making the very foundation of the religion of Islam one word; READ. 

At Bolton Islamic Girls School we recognise that one of the fundamental aspects of Islam is the special emphasis on knowledge, and reading forms one of the basic means of gaining knowledge. Encouraging and supporting learners to become passionate about reading has been enforced with a strong emphasis on reading and literacy and embedded throughout our school curriculum from year 7 to 11.

Our aim is for students to leave School having had a rich and positive experience of reading multiple, diverse, challenging and beautifully crafted works of art. An experience so fertile, that they want to go on reading novels both the ‘religious/classics’ but also new works, works that challenge the established canon and provoke new ways of thinking about the world and where we stand in it. We want our students to discover the transformative power of books, the power of knowledge and the pleasures that reading affords.

Our curriculum aims to provide our students with reading opportunities that ignite their imagination, allow books to question their intellect, what they know and think about themselves and the world in which they live. We want our students to feel the transformative power of books, as their reading introduces them to new ideas, geographical settings, religions, and historical time frames.

And although we want students to experience the personal connection between reader, author and story, we also want students to see how reading can include them in great conversations not only with the author and the characters but also with all those who have read the text too.

We also aim to provide a curriculum that allows pupils to explore and engage with the conversations that exist between books, the intertextual links, the idea that in reading one book, you are preparing yourself for the reading of the next as those timeless and universal themes and ideas resurface in their different forms and guises.

Finally, we want our curriculum to prepare our students for the complexities of the texts they will encounter, both fiction and non-fiction as they progress through school, higher education and the world beyond. We aim to teach our students how to navigate the more subtle conventions of different genres so that they are able to unlock these academic codes independently and thus access the rich world that sits within these texts.

How do we teach Reading?

  • Their role is:
  • To generate students’ enthusiasm for books and reading.
  • To improve students’ literacy skills through guided reading.
  • To increase students’ self-confidence through weekly attention by listening to them reading aloud.
  • To encourage the learner to pursue their reading outside of the session
  • To encourage them to choose material to read over the week which is suited to their current reading level.
  • For students needing more urgent reading interventions due to a very low reading age / English being a second language, we have arranged specific targeted interventions for reading with staff.

Every child at Bolton Islamic Girls School will be taught to read with fluency and understanding. All children will develop the skills and confidence to read increasingly challenging texts independently in order to support them in all aspects of their curriculum. Vocabulary is explicitly and systematically taught to enable students to understand the relationships between words and nuances of meaning. A wide vocabulary will empower students to articulate their thoughts, emotions and ideas effectively as well as enabling them to engage more deeply with the written and spoken word.

The KS3 and then KS4 reading and literacy curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills developed in KS2 to allow students to become increasingly sophisticated communicators with a comprehensive grasp of grammatical terminology and the ability to apply this knowledge to their own writing.

For students who need additional support with reading skills we offer different interventions, depending on the needs of each student. All of these interventions not only help students to be better readers, but also aim to help them to enjoy reading more.

Guided Reading Groups have been used in our reading mentor programme. Chosen by the English teacher, we have trained our Year 11 to Year 9 students to be competent and effective reading mentors and to be ready to listen to younger students read once/twice or three times a week. This has proven to be a great way of helping older students to gain a valuable experience of a leadership role and it will encouraged them to understand the importance of useing their knowledge to benefit others.  The reading mentor is a positive role model by providing consistent support to the learners.