Reading

Reading Statement of Intent

At St Oswald's we believe that all children should have the opportunity to be fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts.

We want children to develop a love of reading and become enthusiastic and motivated readers. We want to develop children's confidence in reading and have a good knowledge of a range of authors and be able to understand more about the world in which they live through the knowledge they gain from texts. We encourage inquisitive readers who ask questions about the text and enhance children’s vocabulary skills using tiered vocabulary.

We understand the importance of families in supporting children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills, so we encourage a home-school partnership which enables families to understand how to enhance skills being taught in school through good quality texts.

Early reading skills are embedded through the use of phonics, Read Write Inc, as well as discussions around books and their features.  Sharing stories, information texts and poetry with the whole class and in small groups during our guided reading sessions. We follow a whole school reading scheme which supports both word reading and comprehension, until the children become free-readers. We have a recommended book list for each key stage which supports children and parents, to choose books which provide the correct level of challenge and are engaging to read.

The promotion of the love of reading across school is developed through reading displays, class stories/novels, reading events such as World Book Day celebrations and book fairs as well as reading certificates. Reading lies at the heart of our curriculum and we are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers and we believe reading is the key to academic success.

National Curriculum: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study

The headteacher, along with other leaders, prioritises reading at St Oswald's. The headteacher meets regurlarly with the Early Reading Lead, to discuss priorities in training, anaylyse data and look at ways forward. She often visits phonics lessons to check consistency across school. The headteacher gives the Reading Leader and staff the time and opportunity for training.

The love of reading is promoted widely across school. Staff are passionate about reading, which inspires children. Core texts are read daily to children by the teacher. This gives the teacher chance to emphasise their story voice and illustrate their excitement at new stories. The teacher chooses their books using CLPE for guidance- Centre for Literacy in Primary Education - to ensure that the texts are of high quality and age appropriate. Reading corners have been developed to promote a love of reading. Each year group have a set list of texts that they want children to read by the end of the year. This encourages children to take the books home, therefore improving their vocabulary, fluency and excitement around reading. In addition to this, teachers display recommended books in their book area, to encourage children to want to read them. In our reading diaries, parents are given ideas on how to support children at home with reading. This includes the phonics sounds and comprehension questions.

At St Oswald's, all staff are highly trained in delivering the Read, Write, Inc Phonic programme.

Information for parents, relating to the programme, can be found by accessing the following link: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

The programme has a strong focus on teaching children to know and remember more. Children are taught daily, in small groups, from Reception upwards. The small groups children are in ensure that all children are taught at their appropriate level, which results in good progress being made. The RWI programme supports the teach simply model:

Review/ Revisit- Previously taught sounds and words are continuously reviewed and revisited at the beginning of every RWI Phonics lesson. 

Teach Simply – Children are taught a new sound following the same sequence daily.

Practice Thoroughly – Children have the opportunity to practise reading the sound in words, including multi-syllabic words.

Apply – Children apply reading their new sounds in alien words and in closely matched, phonically decodable books.

Assess – Children are regularly assessed by the Reading Leader. Teachers assess throughout the lesson to check that children understand.

‘Spotlight children’ (children who are not making as much progress as the rest) are sat in the focus of the teacher, to ensure they don’t get left behind. 

Although our intention is for children to ‘keep up’, not ‘catch up’, if the Reading Leader identifies that any children are falling behind, plans are immediately put in place to support catch up. If needed, children are also assessed in KS2. Children in Foundation Stage- to Y4 have RWI Phonics lessons, if needed.

The Reading Leader quickly identifies children who are falling behind and discusses them with the class teacher. Children are assessed every half term, but they can be assessed sooner than this, if the Reading Leader and Reading Teacher thinks this is necessary. The Reading Leader puts together a support plan for these children and shares these with the teachers and teaching assistants. These support plans include five layers of provision to be put in place for children. 

Arrangements for EYFS/KS1:

  1. The daily phonics lesson is taught robustly. 

  2. The child has 1:1 daily phonics tutoring every afternoon. This is delivered by a trained phonics tutor.

  3. Virtual classroom links (extra phonics lessons) are sent home to parents for extra practice.

  4. Children are given extra time on an iPad to watch the virtual links in school. 

  5. Teachers have an extra 5 minute phonics lesson in an afternoon.

 

Arrangements for KS2:

  1. RWI spelling programme is used to support use of phonics into writing.

  2. Additional phonics intervention is put in place to support individuals who require this.

  3. Some pupils continue to access RWI daily phonics where required.

Read Write Inc