Reading Vision
At Scarning Primary School, at the forefront of our English curriculum is a desire to drive our children’s love of reading. Through this, we aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of reading for pleasure. The books that our children explore will be high-quality, diverse and cross-curricular, providing them with a wide-range of different texts which develop both their knowledge and interests; such texts will also generate discussions which are thought-provoking and which all children can access. By the end of year 6, it is fundamental that our children leave with a life-long enjoyment of reading and books and are able to read accurately, fluently and with understanding.
How will we achieve this?
These aims are embedded within our reading curriculum at Scarning Primary whereby reading is taught in the following way:
In the Foundation Stage, the teaching of reading is fundamental. Phonics supports children with their reading fluency, helping them to learn a range of phonemes, digraphs and trigraphs which support them in word reading (see phonics page for more information). Book talk forms a crucial part of this stage as well, allowing children to explore different texts (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) and orally discuss them, helping to develop reading for pleasure from a young age as well as early comprehension.
In year 1, guided reading is used in groups to model reading fluency and to develop comprehension. This works on a two week cycle: in the first week, children read a book with an adult and in the second week, they answer questions about this. The Word Sparks (our decodable books) are used for this process.
In year 1 and the Foundation Stage, children read 1:1 with an adult weekly. Their individual reading books are fully decodable and are closely matched to an appropriate phonics stage. These books are closely monitored so that children are moved on when suitable. Those children who require support with fluency in KS2 also receive 1:1 reading as frequently as possible.
In year 2, children begin to take part in whole class reading sessions whereby the KS1 domains of define, retrieve, sequence, infer and predict are used to generate comprehension questions. Year 2 provides also children with their first experience of written comprehension which is further developed in KS2.
Daily whole class reading sessions on the class novel or on three texts linked through a common theme (a copy of the format of the weekly breakdown is included on the website). Comprehension questions following the KS2 reading domains of define, retrieve, summarise, infer, predict, relate, explore and compare. Please see KS2 teaching sequence for more information.
Reading through the curriculum. Texts in reading lessons are frequently linked to areas such as science, the humanities, RE and RHSE.
The class novel is timetabled daily to ensure that this is a fixed part of the school day.
Whole class independent reading sessions (such as ‘big read’) are timetabled weekly.
Our English lessons often have a text driver to support the teaching of writing and spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Our reading curriculum is inclusive whereby all children are a part of the reading lessons that take place at Scarning; however, we know that some children need that additional support to develop their reading fluency or comprehension. Across KS1 and KS2, additional 1:1 reading is utilised where necessary. In year 2, written comprehension is developed within small groups so that they are ready for KS2. PiXL is used in KS2 to deliver intervention for those children that need additional support in areas such as retrieval and inference and this is implemented within a group setting.
Our reading volunteer programme is a vital part of continuing to build fluency and comprehension skills from reception to year 6. As well, the use of our parent volunteers means pupils are given extra opportunities to share and discuss books they love with adults.
At Scarning Primary, we also recognise the importance of building a love for reading and endeavour to provide a wealth of enrichment opportunities from author visits to our annual ‘Snackanory’ (whole school storytelling session) as well as celebrating World Book Day every year. Furthermore, books and stories play a central role in the delivery of key messages within assemblies.
Assessment
By the end of KS1, our aim is that all children can read fluently, enabling them to fully access learning at KS2 and beyond whereby they can especially develop their comprehension.
Assessment of reading is imperative alongside our curriculum to make sure all children are working at an appropriate level and are able to achieve the aims we have set out. We use three different forms of assessment:
Statutory Assessment
Year 1 – children take part in the Phonics Screening check
Year 2 – children are assessed in reading as part of the end of KS1 SATs.
Year 6 – children are formally assessed in reading as part of the end of KS2 SATs.
In-school Assessments
Children in year 2 and above undertake termly assessments using the PIXL reading assessments, including past papers from KS1 and KS2 SATs for years 2 and 6.
Informal (Formative) Assessments
Teachers continuously assess children’s attainment and progress during individual and whole class reading sessions.
The implementation of such a reading curriculum, we hope, will develop a community of motivated and enthusiastic readers who are confident and keen to read a wide range of genres, and texts, discuss what they have read, make independent decisions on the books that they enjoy and would recommend, and go on to have a lifelong love of reading beyond primary school.