Tutor Group Reading Programme
All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 take part in our tutor reading programme during tutor time three times a week.
Our programme enables the students to develop their reading skills, grow their love of reading, access quality contemporary fiction and non-fiction, and support their wellbeing.
All texts are chosen to model resilience and people overcoming extraordinary adversity and challenging situations.
Year 7
Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah
The personal, funny and poignant tale of a young refugee, from acclaimed storyteller Benjamin Zephaniah.
Acclaimed performance poet and novelist Benjamin Zephaniah's honest, wry and poignant story of a young refugee left in London is of even more power and pertinence today than when it was first published. Life is not safe for Alem. His father is Ethopian, his mother Eritrean. Their countries are at war, and Alem is welcome in neither place. So Alem is excited to spend a holiday in London with his father - until he wakes up to find him gone.
What seems like a betrayal is in fact an act of love, but now Alem is alone in a strange country, and he must forge his own path.
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Lyra and her animal daemon live a carefree life amongst the scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. Yet the destiny that awaits her will take her far from her home, to the magical frozen lands of the Arctic, amongst the witch-clans and ice-bears. Here, she will discover the truth about her identity, which will have immeasurable consequences reaching beyond her own world.
This extraordinary fantasy is the first book in Philip Pullman's multi-award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy.
Exciting, original and enormously powerful it is an incredible feat of imagination, and one of the classics of 20th century children's literature.
Year 8
Exodus by Julie Bertagna
It is 2099 - and the world is gradually drowning, as mighty Arctic ice floes melt, the seas rise and land disappears forever beneath storm-tossed waves. For fifteen-year-old Mara, her family and community, huddled on the fast-disappearing island of Wing, the new century brings flight.
Packed into tiny boats, a terrifying journey begins to a bizarre city that rises into the sky, built on the drowned remains of the ancient city of Glasgow.
But even here there is no safety and, shut out of the city, Mara realises they are asylum-seekers in a world torn between high-tech wizardry and the most primitive injustice.
To save her people, Mara must not only find a way into the city, but also search for a new land and a new home.
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1995.
A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead.
What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.
Year 9
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
How I Live Now is the powerful and engaging story of Daisy, the confident New Yorker and her English cousin Edmond, torn apart as war breaks out in London.
Fifteen-year-old Daisy thinks she knows all about love. Her mother died giving birth to her, and now her dad has sent her away for the summer, to live in the English countryside with cousins she's never even met.
There she'll discover what real love is: something violent, mysterious and wonderful. There her world will be turned upside down and a perfect summer will explode into a million bewildering pieces.
How will Daisy live then?
