Ridgeway Reading Routes

The benefits of reading for pleasure

There is a huge amount of evidence that young people who read regularly for pleasure make better progress in school than those who don’t. They do better in English and in every other subject as well. Reading for pleasure also brings lots of other benefits:

• It makes you more creative
• It helps you to relax and lowers stress levels
• It broadens your horizons and makes you more imaginative
• It massively increases your word power and your communication skills

Ridgeway Reading Routes

Reading for Pleasure is one of the three strands of our Key Stage 3 Homework Strategy. We are introducing a programme called Ridgeway Reading Routes to support the homework strategy and encourage students to read for pleasure.

Ridgeway Reading Routes is a bespoke reading strategy specially designed to encourage students to read regularly for pleasure. It is based on the idea of a map showing different train routes around the local region. Each route represents a reading genre. Students ‘travel’ along each route, choosing books to read from that particular genre. It ensures that over time they are reading a wide range of styles and topics.

There are nine different routes or genres: Comedy, Inspirations, Gothic Horror, War and Conflict, The Classics, Sport, Revolutionaries, Historical and Fantasy. Students in years 7, 8 and 9 are allocated a new route each term. Each route has seven books to choose from. Students select one book and we provide it for them for free. Books are to be returned at the end of the term.

One of the books on each route is particularly suitable for students with lower reading ages. We are using the company Barrington Stoke who design books that support weaker readers and/or dyslexic children. Their books are printed and written in an accessible style.

Year 7 are starting 2024–25 with Inspirations. The seven books on the Inspirations route are:

• I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai
• You Are A Champion: How to be the Best You Can Be Marcus Rashford
• The Fault in Our Stars John Green
• They Both Die at the End Adam Silvera
• No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference Greta Thunberg
• The Five People You Meet in Heaven Mitch Albom
• Until We Win Linda Newbery

Year 8 are starting 2024–25 with Comedy. The seven books on the Comedy route are:

• The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend
• Kay’s Anatomy Adam Kay
• A Good Day for Climbing Trees Jaco Jacobs
• Fever Pitch Nick Hornby
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
• Withering Tights Louise Rennison
• Desirable Frank Cottrell Boyce

Year 9 are starting 2024–25 with War and Conflict. The seven books on the War and Conflict route are:

• Once Morris Gleitzman
• Regeneration Pat Barker
• The Bone Sparrow Zana Fraillon
• My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece Annabel Pitcher
• The Night Watch Sarah Waters
• One of Us Is Lying Karen M McManus
• D-Day Dog Tom Palmer

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