Reading

Our vision for Reading

At SSMJ we believe that reading is an integral part of our school curriculum and a fundamental life skill that impacts on the acquisition of all knowledge. Reading is prioritised as we recognise that it is the core skill to everything that children do, thus meaning that everything else depends on it. Our aim is to ensure that children learn to read rapidly, regardless of their background. We want every child to develop a habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information and have the desire to want to learn to read for themselves with a view to becoming lifelong readers. With this in mind, we aim to inspire a true love of reading, whereby our children are enthusiastic, fluent and motivated readers who feel confident about talking about books and authors.

Intention

At SSMJ, we have planned a bespoke reading curriculum whereby all classes are exposed to a wide variety of differentiated reading materials and high-quality texts across a range of genres, thus allowing children to become competent and confident readers.

We pride ourselves on the rich learning experiences we offer our children, and we work tirelessly to ensure our children have access to a high-quality reading curriculum that is both challenging and enjoyable for all readers.

Through quality first teaching, we teach our children to be inquisitive, thought provoking readers, which allows them to enjoy asking questions about the texts they are reading, and, at the same time, gain a deeper understanding of what they have read.

In years 1- 6, we follow a reading cycle programme which includes a combination of teacher-led work, pupil led activities, comprehension activities and independent reading. Throughout these carefully planned lessons, all children have access to the same book, vocabulary and discussion, and are given the opportunity to work alongside their peers to enhance their reading skills further.

In Key Stage One and Two, we have a skills-based approach to reading using the VIPERS as a set of skills:

• Vocabulary
• Inference
• Prediction
• Explain
• Retrieve
• Summarise

Each of our classrooms have reading areas to encourage reading. Our reading corners include a range of high-quality texts and novels, as well as topic focus texts to support reading in the wider curriculum.

Children are given daily opportunities to read a variety of materials in school, whether this be in lesson time, lunch time, or reading regularly with an adult. As well as children reading daily, we also recognise the importance of children being ‘read to’ and having the opportunity to be able to sit and listen to a ‘storyteller’.

With this in mind, staff read daily to the children and use this opportunity to show their passion about books and read some of their favourite novels while getting into character using intonation and expression. Reading to the children is also a great opportunity to demonstrate and develop fluency.

We are committed to providing quality, vocabulary-rich reading material, which immerses and enhances all pupils’ wider knowledge of the spoken and written word, through modern and classic children’s literature and non-fiction texts. We also consider the cultural background, gender and any special needs, both in our teaching attitudes and in the published materials we use with our pupils.

Impact

Pupils thoroughly enjoy reading and know that we focus on a range of reading skills (Vipers) and can use their language associated with these skills when explaining what they are learning.

Our phonics results show that our pupils achieve a standard that is very close to the national average. By the end of Key Stage 2, our progress in reading is demonstrating above national figures.

Our robust assessment approach means that we can track pupil progress and attainment regularly. It is evident from our increasingly good results across school that our bespoke, innovative reading curriculum, including the RWI programme, has created a community of enthusiastic readers who are confident and fluent with a hungry appetite to read more.

Reading in EYFS

In EYFS, we promote early reading in children as they start school as we believe this underpins their natural curiosity of storytelling and enjoyment of stories. We begin to teach individual phonemes during daily phonic sessions, as well as how to segment and blend sounds in words to read them. Within every area of provision in the reception classroom, children are exposed to a wealth of rich reading opportunities. Within the early years’ environment, we also embed sound recognition and provide ample opportunities for the children to apply their learning within their play, both independently and adult led.

In addition, we develop an awareness of rhyme, alliteration and oral sound blending through engaging children in various daily activities. In Reception, we instil a love of reading with various stories that can be shared with the children.

Like KS1 and KS2, every term, Reception focus on a high-quality text and we provide opportunities for the children to sequence, retell and use role play to develop their imagination and own ideas of storytelling.

We recognise the importance of parental engagement and children reading at home with their families, therefore during the first few weeks of Reception, all parents are invited to attend ‘An Introduction to Phonics’ workshop whereby they are given an overview of the expectations of reading at SSMJ.

This includes an insight into what a daily lesson looks like, how physical phonics can be implemented at home, and what our home reading books entail. To conclude the workshop, all our families are provided with a RWI phonics pack to ensure children are given the opportunity to continue to rehearse, consolidate and apply their phonic knowledge at home.

Home Reading

Every child is given a home reading book that they can take home and enjoy in their own time. We encourage all children to read at least four times a week, though many children exceed this. Our expectation is that a family member listens to their child read their book and makes a comment in their child’s school diary.

In Reception and KS1, all children are given a decodable reading book which is carefully matched to the phonic level they are working at. The books vary in several ways, including layout, size, vocabulary and length – this ensures children are provided with a rich diet of literature. We feel it is a fundamental aspect that all children are given books matched directly to their phonic knowledge as this allows them to rehearse and consolidate previously taught sounds without being exposed to unfamiliar phonemes. In turn, this allows children to flourish in their reading and become confident, accurate and fluent readers, before moving on to more challenging texts of greater difficulty. After children have completed the RWI programme, they then move on to colour banded books.

In KS2, children receive a home reading book which is linked directly to their reading level. This is assessed regularly throughout each half term to ensure an appropriate level of challenge is provided, thus ensuring children continue to improve their reading skills, as well as fluency. Once children have progressed through each stage of book bands, they become ‘’free readers’ and begin to choose their own reading books, either from the wide selection of books we have to offer a book they choose from home. Again, this is carefully monitored by staff and parents to ensure appropriate challenge and progression of reading, but also to ensure a love of reading.

Reading Documents