Intent
For our school, reading is our main priority and we believe this is the foundation for learning in the rest of the curriculum. We focus on reading across the school.
We want children to:
• develop understanding and skills to become independent, enthusiastic, fluent readers
• read widely and frequently across a range of genres for both pleasure and information
• acquire and understand new vocabulary; to be able to use this in context across all areas of their learning
Implementation
In Reception and Key Stage One, reading is taught through the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) programme. This teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step. They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice. Reading is the key that unlocks the whole curriculum so the ability to efficiently decode is essential. The Read, Write, Inc sessions occur each day as the continuity and pace of the programme is key to accelerating the progress of children’s reading development.
To help choose appropriate books, we use Accelerated Reader (AR). This is a reading management and monitoring programme that aims to foster independent reading. The internet-based software assesses reading age and suggests books that match pupils’ needs and interests. Pupils take computerised quizzes on the books and earn AR points as they progress.
Every child reads with an adult in school at least once a week. In addition to this, the lowest 20% of readers in each class are read with daily to enable their reading fluency and comprehension to catch up with their peers. Part of this daily reading practice includes RWI 1:1 tutoring for those children who need it. In Reception and KS1, there is an additional daily RWI Speed Sounds lesson to provide an extra opportunity to practise reading skills. During this time, more able children are extended through access to online e-books on myON which is an online reading tool linked to Accelerated Reader.
The children also access a range of high-quality texts during their reading and writing lessons. In Key Stage 2, daily whole class reading lessons are based on high-quality texts. The VIPERS approach is used to teach children the key 6 reading domains as part of the National Curriculum. They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. VIPERS stands for Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarise.
At the end of every day, the whole class read a text selected for quality and age-appropriate content as part of including our Favourite Five texts. In KS1, teachers share and revisit five texts each half term. In KS2, teachers share and revisit five texts across the year as well as using story-time as a chance to revisit texts that have been studied during whole class reading and writing lessons.
