Intent

 

Our curriculum will develop a love of and lifelong interest in reading for all our pupils. Developing our children to appreciate a diverse range of literature. We want our children to be able to enjoy literature in all its fullness. Due to our children’s diverse demographic, we will expose them to literature that reflects this and is taken from a variety of authors and forms guiding them to make their own choices of new texts. As stated in Willingham. T (2015) the race for children to develop this love of reading is critical.

We will provide fundamental reading skills necessary to understand a text. On leaving us children will be fluent decoders at pace. We intend to provide them with the building blocks and phonic knowledge to be able to do so. Our curriculum will build on fluency and promote a deeper understanding. They will appreciate, consider and discuss themes, characters and plot as well as make connections between texts, other literature and their own lives. We will increase complexity, structure and language of the literature they are exposed to, to build on and adapt the way in which they think. They will apply reading skills across the curriculum. As a school a higher than the national average number of our learners use English as an Additional Language (EAL). Meaning they communicate within at least two languages so we must teach vocabulary and fluency explicitly.

Our offer for our children is to facilitate their ability to read fluently and at pace for comprehension and understanding which will allow them to read for a variety of purposes and enjoyment in the act of applying their learning to the wider world and their lives beyond Primley Wood

 

Implementation

EYFS

Children begin daily systematic synthetic phonics. This is delivered in matched learning levels and assessed each half term. Read Write Inc. is taught as a whole class for the first 4 weeks of the academic year in Autumn 1. The children will begin letter formation and mark making activities in workbooks at this time.

 

 

KS1 & KS2

Provision of Systematic Synthetic Phonics continues through use of Little Wandle with the addition of Book Talk and Reading for Pleasure session powered by high quality texts. These are delivered to develop fluency and a holistic comprehension of the text. These sessions aim to model connecting to a text and vocabulary acquisition as well as forming and developing mental models of a text as children develop independence. At the end of Year One they complete the Phonics Screening Check. The results of this screening identifies sound gaps that are addressed through 1:1 tutoring and small group phonics.

 

During Year 2 the same Reading programme is delivered but the length and complexity of texts increases. Across KS1 we listen to children read every day with 1:1 readers, story time and curriculum learning. Home reading books are matched to academic ability and are correlated to their phonic ability to ensure appropriate challenge Story time is delivered every day led by teachers to celebrate enjoyment and engagement in a variety of texts.

 

Teachers deliver daily 45minute sessions of Guided Reading broken down into:

• Book Talk

Where the focus is on developing knowledge of vocabulary in context and  and understanding This has increased from 30mins in previous years due to the importance of raising the profile of reading and ensuring strong and fluid links between Reading instruction and Reading for Pleasure. Book Talk is primary taught through oracy and shared reading of a text, teacher modelling is prioritised but children are empowered to take ownership of these session and guide discussion to form their understanding of the text, characters, themes and plot.

• Story Time

Each Guided Reading session has a second phase which is focused towards reading for pleasure and exposing children to a wide range of texts. As mentioned in the subject Report” It is important that schools avoid seeing “reading for pleasure” and “Reading for comprehension” as separate things it is important readers think about how these two elements can link to provide a coherent curriculum”. Here teachers will read aloud to children and explore what they have read, encouraging children to contribute to share their understanding this is ring-fenced time for teachers to model ‘prosody’ and demonstrate the importance of developing good speaking skills. These session also encompass spellings and an examination of the morphology of words linked to vocabulary and understanding how these contribute to meaning. As mentioned recently by OFTSED “Most Primary Schools do not have an explicit curriculum for developing spoken language, in most primaries these opportunities for oracy are built into enrichment experiences such as productions and assemblies that not all pupils take advantage of. The components of effective spoken language are not often taught which affects pupils developing confidence in speaking clearly and expressing ideas”

• Book Club

takes place every week and is a session that supports children to develop opinions about the books they read, know how to understand what they like and why and use this information to develop an understanding of themselves as reader, make recommendation to themselves and others and evaluate literature, they discuss and recommend books and share. We extend this in extracurricular book clubs which serve to facilitate children with significant interest in this to take this further.

 

 

Texts are informed by the high quality power of reading texts but this list has been amended in line with feedback from teachers and children which ensures pitch and diversity. During Guided Reading and English there is repetition in structures to ensure children know more, understand more and remember more. This process allows them to return to, revisit and build upon their existing skills and knowledge done through quick quizzes and recap to connect learning from one day to the next in sequence.

 

Home readers continue to be provided and expectation and independence is increased. To support language acquisition at all levels each classroom has a four tiered vocabulary board as a teaching tool where pupils are encouraged to identify new language. They identify words before assessing their understanding of them and their ability to use them. Word Acquisition bookmarks provide a medium for children to record new language and inform teacher’s vocab instruction and ‘Writer’s Journal’ allow our children to practice using this vocabulary in context and in doing so and revisiting move vocabulary from their working memory to long-term memory where it becomes part of their lexicon.

 

These become a focus for learning and the words are moved across the vocabulary board to illustrate the vocabulary acquisition process. as we add meaning, understanding and context to them. We also signpost  children to routes to further explore reading through our curriculum drivers, key texts and correlating texts as well as increasingly through our blended curriculum. The premise of this is to encourage children to read around a subject, gain different perspectives and learn how to follow their interest into an area of literature that they will choose to enjoy within their own time.

 

Independent reading and love of reading is fostered by children using the Accelerated Reader programme to challenge them to engage with a wider range of increasingly complex and sophisticated books, time in the school day is ring-fenced so that our children can develop their love of reading every single day and are also read to every day. Teachers work in liaison with reading leaders to provide active and engaging story times for their children, modelling the aspirational reading we want our children to embody.

 

SLT provides training in planning, delivering and evaluating. We use Little Wandle’s development days and SLE Support as well as principles from local English Hubs attended by our leaders to support our Reading practice. We as lead teachers model aspects of lessons as well as coaching through joint planning and paired evaluation. Our teachers share their good practice through feedback sessions, staff and peer observations.

 

Impact

 

Our children will acquire new skills through practise and apply them independently. As our children progress through school: The diversity of subject matter, cultures and authors within texts will grow and as such they will gain a wider understanding of the world that they live in. They will quickly acquire the reading skills to be able to understand these comprehensively and grow in their ability to ask questions and make connections from the literature they read to the world that surrounds them.  Our outcomes will increase as a direct consequence of this increased skill in decoding and comprehension. Their development of a rich and varied vocabulary in their time here will be reflected in positive progress measures and an increase in use of spoken language in different contexts.

 

We will foster a support network for them with their adults at home who will have a greater understanding of who their child is as a reader and will be better equipped to support them through future challenges. We will see children actively selecting books that they enjoy and paving their own literary journeys to new texts, selecting what they enjoy learning from it and exploring related texts, genres and authors.