Reading

Reading Intent:

We believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of and enthusiasm for reading, writing and discussion. We give all children the opportunity to enter the magical worlds that books open to them. We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of reading widely and often, developing culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading is the core of our curriculum. We teach children to be confident and fluent readers who will have a lifelong love of books and reading. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. We want to inspire children to be confident in the arts of speaking and listening and to use discussion to develop their learning. We believe that a thorough grasp of literacy skills is crucial to a high-quality education and will give our children the confidence and tools they need to become learners for life.

Aims:

The overarching aim for is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

We aim for our pupils to:

In addition to this:

• All teachers will have high expectation and there is a shared and consistent approach to teaching and learning.
• Each classroom is ‘text-rich’ and provides high-quality books and reading resources which are used across the wider curriculum so that children are able to use their increasingly developed reading skills to access further learning.

Reading Lessons

We recognise that comprehension is an outcome, not a skill to practise; therefore, our approach is to support pupils to engage deeply with a wide range of literature.

Within reading lessons, our priority is to ensure that pupils are fully immersed within the world of the story.

Word reading (Fluency)

We recognise the importance of actively teaching and embedding reading fluency across KS2 and this is exemplified within our quality first teaching. We ensure that every child reads every day through a varied reading experience. We use a range of strategies: choral reading, paired reading, repeated reading and individual reading. These are visible within each classroom across the school day. Any pupil who is struggling to read fluently are quickly identified and support is then put into place.

Reading Lessons

‘The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model’ is used to teach the children to be excellent and fluent readers who have a deep understanding of the texts read, this ensures that they are able to demonstrate elaborate and flexible thinking when discussing a wide range of texts.

1. Modelling- Reading a text alongside the pupils, the teacher models depth of thinking when analysing and understanding texts read.
2. Collaborative work – the teacher supports and guides the understanding of texts, making explicit links for the pupils.
3. Guided practice with gradual release of responsibility, and
4. Pupils independently demonstrate that they have a deep understanding of the text read.

Example of a week’s learning within reading (Year 3-6)

• Class Novel focus- 4 x 20 minutes per week, plus one reading session to ensure that the children gain a depth of understanding.
• Book club- 1 x 20 minutes per week- promoting a love of reading by providing time to recommend books for class reading and reading at home.
• Whole class reading lessons- 5 x per week, 30 minutes based upon year group reading overviews.
• Weekly opportunities to read across the curriculum.
• Independent reading x 5 day 15 min

The children will have the opportunity to access a wide variety of texts over the term, these will include:

• a book study (2 week block, linked to a writing unit)
• short extracts (multiples from the same text or genre/focus) Ashley Booth model is used for this delivery
• contemporary and classic texts
• poetry/songs
• picture books/ video clips
• non-fiction texts (often linked to the wider curriculum, as well as equality and diversity)

The choice of texts will support pupils to reflect on their own lives and understand the lives of others as well as having links to other elements of the curriculum to enrich their learning.

Book Study:

The whole class approach supports children in developing a love for reading and forms part of a ‘book study’ (fiction and non-fiction) which immerses children into a text and will lead into high quality writing outcomes. This happens in a two week ‘block’ each half-term and will include a deep understanding of a whole text, authorial intent and will provide the children with opportunities to explore their thoughts and ideas creatively e.g. through drama and art. This may be recorded in English books or Reading books depending on where the teacher feels it will fit best.

Reading Stamina

We actively encourage and teach children to build a good reading stamina. We do this through reflective reading practise, the children learn to recognise how long they are able to focus and read independently for and are then challenged to increase this for longer periods of time without being distracted or without distracting others.

Recording reading

In Key Stage 2, all children have a reading record book; their personal book records all texts that they have read independently. All adults and pupils are able to record in the child’s individual reading record.

Classes actively work together to record 100 reads and the class receive a reward. Build on teamwork, collaborative engagement and working to a challenge. The reward is delivered by the class teacher linked to teamwork task. Each signature in a reading record counts towards 1 read for the reading 100 challenge.

Assessments

We assess the children’s fluency and comprehension skills in a variety of ways, to ensure we have a clear understanding of each individual as a reader and any potential barriers to support them to make progress.

Word reading/ Fluency	Comprehension
Fluency Rubric- to identify specific barriers Assessing how many words can be read per minute (3 x year) Phonics Assessments (as appropriate- mainly Y3)	On-going assessments through a variety of ways including: AfL opportunities, high quality questioning and feedback. Rising Stars assessments (Y3-Y5) Practice DfE SATs papers (Y6)

• Teachers update their assessments termly
• Assessments are made through a combination of observation, discussion and written work
• Weekly reading comprehensions help teachers to make their judgements in this important area as well as using Rising Stars for assessment termly
• The phonics screen, KS1 statutory assessment and KS2 SATs provide transitional assessment  and highlight additional interventions

Barriers to reading

When assessing reading barriers staff are rigorous in ensuring that we are specific in our diagnosis.

Fluency: expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness and pace.

Reading Comprehension: vocabulary, figurative language, narrative skills, grammatical development, verbal reasoning, inferencing, verbal working memory and motivation to read.

Enhanced provision through QFT and where appropriate, specific, targeted interventions are put in place to support children to overcome their reading barriers.

Provision for bottom 20% Readers

• Rigorous assessment to identify specific barriers.
• Enhanced provision through QFT- including additional opportunities for reading for pleasure.
• High focus within reading lessons and when the class text is shared.
• Further opportunities for them to discuss what they have read and what they enjoy reading.
• Ensure they have a reading book that they want to read, alongside a booked matched closely to their reading ability.
• Focused interventions (fluency and comprehension as appropriate).
• Access to a range of dyslexia friendly books in UKS2.

Whole School Strategies

• Daily  reading lessons
• Class book read daily, with a high focus on ensuring that children understand tier 2 vocabulary. Children complete book reviews once the book has been finished.
• Book club session once a week for discussion and recommendations
• Daily 15 minute love of reading sessions Classrooms and school library will be text rich and have books that link to the wider curriculum.
• Buddy reading system where UKS2 children will read with key stage 1 children.
• Reading 100
• Reading books are available at playtime.
• Whole school Reading Challenge
• Book fair to visit twice a year.
• Opportunities for a range of authors to visit school  
• Provide enrichment opportunities, through the celebration of World Book Day, National storytelling Week, entering Poetry Competitions and taking part in Reading Challenges
• All teachers ensure to plan stimulating English lessons, which incorporate ICT and collaborative learning so that children are excited and enthused in their lessons, leading to a strong motivation to read and write.
• We employ both in the moment and after the moment marking. Through ‘live’ marking, we can give children instant feedback about their learning in the lesson; this enables children to adjust their learning based on the feedback provided by teachers and teaching and learning assistants.

Reading Impact

We are creating a community of enthusiastic readers and writers who enjoy showcasing their developing English skills. They are confident to take risks in their reading and writing, and love to discuss and share their ideas with others. Children will be enthusiastic to take part in events, productions and drama. Children will be ambitious in their writing and want to engage with varied texts and genres and value the importance of reading to aid all elements of their education.

• Pupils enjoy reading regularly for information, enjoyment and pleasure.
• Pupils discuss books with excitement and interest.
• Purposeful feedback moves the learning forward. Children respond to the feedback and are able to articulate what they need to do next to improve.
• Presentation is of a high standard and in line with the school policy.
• Teachers track pupil progress and this informs planning and intervention.
• Subject leader monitoring is purposeful and evidences good practice (this includes: learning walks, learning quality assurances, lesson observations, pupil interviews, listening to pupils read)
• Pupils identified as having SEND, evidence good progress from their starting points.
• Early identification of need and highly structured Interventions ensure that any child in danger of not meeting the expected standard, has appropriate provision in place.