Reading
Subject Leader: Miss S Redford
Subject Vision
We are passionate that our pupils become confident readers and communicators by the time they reach the end of their primary education, and this is why we place such emphasis on the teaching and learning of reading, phonics and speaking and listening. The extent of our school library ensures children have access to a wide range of engaging, age-appropriate books that they can choose at their leisure, supported by our child-friendly Accelerated Reader system. Together, these essential ingredients help us to ensure that every child has access to ‘the right book at the right time.’
Curriculum (Reading)
Reading is taught discreetly for 30 minutes every day, focussing on vocabulary and comprehension skills. During these sessions, children develop their knowledge across the range of domains as outlined in the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 National Curriculum, and these can be seen below:
Teachers model a range of reading strategies during reading lessons, as well as reading aloud to the highest standard, whilst children have the opportunity to develop their own strategies and to discuss texts in detail during debates and discussions. There is always a strong emphasis placed on understanding the author’s linguistic choices and the impact that these have on the reader.
Accelerated Reader
Pupils who have completed the Little Wandle phonics programme right through to the end of Year 6 use Accelerated Reader and STAR Reading to support them in further igniting their love of reading and developing their reading skills; these programs provide half termly reading assessments, quizzes on recently read texts, and also catalogue 1000s of titles for children to choose from in our school library. In all, pupils are well-supported to choose appropriately challenging and engaging texts.
The books that children read are added to their ‘virtual bookshelf’ and parents can view how well the children are doing in these quizzes via Home Connect or by email. Children share an enjoyment of reading through individual class challenges related to Accelerated Reader and can take part in whole Key Stage challenges such as becoming a ‘Word Millionaire’.
Assessment
On a day-to-day basis, teachers regularly assess children’s reading through a range of different activities; these include class discussions, 1:1 reading with adults, class work, comprehension questions, Accelerated Reader quizzes and much more.
Children also complete summative reading assessments each term and these identify how proficient they are in applying their reading skills to understand age-appropriate texts independently.
In addition to the internal assessments detailed above, children also complete a national curriculum assessment (SAT) in reading in Year 2 and Year 6 to assess their reading abilities at the end of each Key Stage. The results of these are shared with parents and carers.
Reading at Home
All children have access to a wide range of texts and are guided and supported by their Accelerated Reader level in making appropriate choices when selecting their reading book. They are expected to read at least five times each week for 10 minutes or more and record this in their planners. To support children’s developing comprehension skills and parental engagement, our planners are pre-populated with age-appropriate questions.