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Tutor Time Reading
Shared fiction in tutor time
In 2023-2024 we began twice-weekly reading during Tutor Times at the start of the school day for pupils in Years 7-10, with tutors reading a shared fiction text aloud. Initially, we used texts from the English Faculty book cupboard which are no longer studied in school; for example, Susan Hill’s ‘Woman in Black’ for Year 10 and Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Private Peaceful’ for Year 7. However, for 2024-2025 we are delighted to share that the Friends of Deer Park have given a donation enabling us to buy new, more modern and diverse, novels specifically for this purpose.
There is a clear benefit to introducing Tutor Time Reading: as a tutor reads, they are modelling key aspects of reading aloud, varying tone and expression as well as pausing. Pupils are improving their listening skills, and listening to reading is a shared social experience that builds a sense of community and belonging. Reading also leads to improved writing. We know that young people’s reading engagement has steadily fallen over the past few years; we are seeking to develop a reading culture within our school whilst encouraging reading for pleasure.
The first tutor time novels for this academic year are as follows:
YEAR 7: Trash by Andy Mulligan
Raphael lives on a rubbish dump, trying to make a living sifting through rubbish. One unlucky-lucky day, he makes an extraordinary and deadly discovery. Now he and his two friends, Gardo and Rat, are running for their lives. They are wanted by the corrupt forces that run the city and will stop at nothing to get back what they've lost. As the net tightens, they uncover a dead man's mission to put right a terrible wrong. And it's three street-boys against the world...
YEAR 8: The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ross
Set in a post-apocalyptic Wales, this eerie story is told through a little blue diary shared by 12- year old Dylan and his mum as they survive day to day in the deserted town of Nebo. The End came when Dylan was six. Most of the population died or fled, but Dylan and his Mum stayed put, adapting to life outside of a society. But as Dylan begins to grow into a man, he senses that his mother is keeping secrets and their relationship becomes tense. But can things ever truly go back to the way they were? And could Dylan and his mother survive if they did?
YEAR 9: The Girl who Broke the Sea by A Connors
Lily's emotional problems run deep - 3 miles deep. After she gets kicked out of school for her destructive behaviour, Lily agrees to an unusual fresh start: going with her mum to live at Deephaven, an experimental deep-sea mining rig and research station at the bottom of the ocean. Lily instantly regrets her decision: turns out, Deephaven has problems of its own. The head scientist has disappeared - just as he was on the brink of a shocking discovery. In the darkness of the deep, something is stirring... something dangerous.
YEAR 10: The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail
Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn't seen her sister June for two years. And now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months' time, she and her mother decide that it's time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. Along with Aisha's boyfriend, Walter and his parents (and Fleabag the stray cat), the group take a road trip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan - to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future.
Our thanks to the Friends of Deer Park for their donation which has enabled us to enhance this provision.
All our pupils have access to the books in our library, The PLC, and pupils' smartcards work as library cards. There are novels, graphic novels, dyslexic-friendly books and fact-based books. We encourage pupils in all year groups to come along and find something they might enjoy reading, whether by an author they already know and love, a book recommended by a friend or something completely new. Expand your horizons! The PLC is open to pupils at break, lunchtimes and for an hour after school until 4.25pm.