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English Reading
At Bulford St Leonard's CofE Primary School, we seek to ignite a passion for reading and love of books through our reading curriculum.
Intent:
- Promote a love of reading; through a variety of genres and authors, pupils experience a rich diet of literature.
- Link reading texts (where relevant) to non-core learning to help pupils to connect their growing knowledge.
- Provide opportunities for discussion of texts and sharing a love of reading which reflects our school values of communication, determination and future dreaming.
- Ensure that explicit teaching of reading skills and strategies to support pupils in accessing all subject areas and understanding the world around them.
- Ensure that pupils are exposed to a range of texts which means they become fluent and accurate in reading across a variety of genres and styles.
- Develop a consistent approach to teaching reading in order to close gaps and ensure that all children leave in year 6 being able to read to learn.
Implementation:
We believe that the acquisition of the phonetic code, fluency and proficient comprehension as an entitlement for all children has the power to transform lives; it enables them to access the whole curriculum and engage more fully with the world around them. We ensure as many opportunities as possible during the school day to read, enjoy, share and discuss books.
Learning to read
We follow a systematic approach to teaching phonics, using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. The teaching of phonics begins in Reception, and teaching continues daily to at least the point where children can read almost all words fluently. This provides children with the skills they need to begin to read words, captions and whole sentences as soon as possible.
Focused reading practice
In Reception and Year 1, children practise reading using LW Big Cat decodable books that are closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge. Our children often reread the same text multiple times to develop their comprehension and fluency which includes their accuracy, automaticity (rapid recall of whole known words) and prosody (reading with expression).
Daily Reading practice
Pupils in all classes have opportunities to read daily; in reading groups in EYFS and KS1, or whole class reading or independent reading in KS2. Pupils also have opportunities to read in other subjects across the curriculum. Pupils who are less fluent will read regularly 1:1, with a focus on the lowest 20%.
Support to keep up and catch up
Until pupils are fluent readers, ‘keep up’ sessions are used for pupils who teachers identify in on-going assessment as needing more support in consolidating their phonics knowledge. KS2 pupils who need more support in developing their reading skills receive intervention on an individual or small group basis if they need support in addition to whole class reading.
Access to appropriate books
We recognise the importance of reading at home to practice and embed reading skills. Pupils in R/Yr1 take home their Little Wandle book and a ‘snuggle’ book to enjoy with a grown up. Fluent readers in KS1, and all KS2 pupils can access the class reading corner to choose a reading book.
Support at home
Pupils all have a reading record to keep track of their reading and provide a link to school. In R/Year 1 teachers will use LW assessments to determine when pupils move onto the next level of challenge. In all years, teachers also monitor reading frequency and choices to expand their interest where needed. Children are expected to read regularly at home and in school.
Reading for meaning
Developing fluency
In EYFS and Yr1, pupils discuss texts and read for meaning as part of their reading practice. In year 2, once they have completed the Little Wandle programme, pupils follow the Little Wandle fluency programme. Towards the end of Year 2, we begin to use a whole class guided reading model to explore more challenging texts.
A clear framework for reading lessons
Reading lessons are 30mins, daily. In whole class reading lessons, pupils read from a reading spine of high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry, which is used to explicitly teach and consolidate the reading skills needed for pupils to be confident readers for meaning. Across a two-week cycle, pupils will read the class reader, as well as one lesson of a non-fiction text, linked to the non-core topic, a poem, and a lesson which is explicitly teaching how to apply reading strategies to different question formats.
Each lesson starts with pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary, to develop pupils' lexicon to support independent reading. Teachers then explore the texts through different sorts of reading: fluency, extended, close exploration. In fluency lessons, the teacher models prosody and fluency, before pupils practice and rehearse their reading, as a bridge to comprehension. A combination of extended and close reading ensures pupils can engage with and explore texts in a meaningful way. Pupils demonstrate their learning through a mixture of discussions, group work and responding to questions about the text. Teachers use formative assessment through questioning , and through monitoring the quality of pupils’ responses. NFER and SATS papers are used to formally assess pupils' progress in reading.
Love of reading
A diet of quality texts
The choice of texts in the reading spine is intended to inspire pupils to continue reading class books, and other books by the same author. A range of books is available in class libraries for pupils.
Allocated time for independent reading
There is time dedicated in the school day for pupils to read independently; pupils can choose to read during lunchtime if they wish (and often do)
Daily story time and reading together
Story time happens in every year group, before lunchtime: to ensure the children are read to everyday and share, discuss and enjoy the endless possibilities of books. The choice of text is sometimes shared with pupils, and sometimes includes the guided reading texts.
Impact:
- By engaging with high quality texts, children read with enthusiasm and enjoy talking about their reading.
- Pupils can make links and connections between their reading and other subjects; including through their writing.
- Pupils show the school values through discussion about texts: they are confident communicators, show determination with challenging texts and have their imaginations fired up.
- Pupils can read and make sense of a variety of texts – not only evidenced in NFER assessments, but in their readiness for transitions to the next stage of their education.
- We aim for pupils to achieve the age-related expectations for reading, and those that find reading challenging are targeted for intervention to catch up and make progress.
