What do we do?
At Walton Hall Academy, RAP time is a key initiative designed to nurture students’ reading skills, comprehension, and enjoyment of literature. Students at Walton Hall follow the Fresh Start Phonics scheme. Reading is embedded across the curriculum, ensuring all students can access and engage with diverse texts. The programme fosters a love of reading, promotes literacy development, and builds essential skills in vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and summarisation (VIPERS). By integrating RAP time into daily learning, students are better prepared for academic success and lifelong literacy, allowing them to nurture a love of reading.
How do we do it?
RAP Time is delivered through structured whole-group reading sessions four times per week, led by class teachers. Upon starting at our school, students are assessed on their reading. From here, they are placed into a phonics or reading group based on their current ability.
- Tutors model fluent and expressive reading through a variety of texts to engage students and improve comprehension.
- Students participate in discussions, predictions, and text analysis using VIPERS strategies.
- The Fresh Start Phonics programme supports students who are still learning to decode and blend words. Staff and students work through module booklets based on their current abilities, with assessments each half-term to track progress.
- Seekers’ pathway students focus on communication skills and engagement with stories, using adapted strategies suited to their needs. Some students within the Seekers pathway will also access the Fresh Start phonics programme.
- Personalised reading targets are set through Evidence for Learning.
Why do we do it?
Through RAP Time, students:
- Become more confident and fluent readers.
- Develop higher levels of comprehension and vocabulary.
- Gain increased independence and communication skills.
- Experience improved mental health and self-esteem through literacy engagement.
- Foster an intrinsic motivation to read for pleasure.
- Reduce barriers to learning in all subjects.
A robust assessment framework ensures continuous monitoring of progress. RAP Time contributes to a school-wide culture of reading, equipping students with the skills needed for personal and academic achievement, enabling them to grow and flourish in their learning journey as they prepare for their adult life.
Reading and Phonics