English - Reading

General Statement of Intent

 

 At Maple Grove Primary School, we are passionate about developing enthuastic and confident readers who can understand a wide range of texts.  Reading at Maple Grove Primary School is a core skill that underpins our whole curriculum. We know that learning to read, and reading to learn, is the foundation for future success. We recognise the importance of this academic skill and we want to ensure that every child leaves us by the end of Key Stage 2 a competent reader.

Within our broader English Curriculum planning, our intent for reading is clear:

• We aim to instil a love of reading for each child.
• To expose all children to a wealth of language rich texts.
• To be independent and resilient readers.
• Within Key Stage One children will reach the expected standard in phonics and become fluent, confident early readers.
• Children will develop their comprehension skills enabling them to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of literature.
• Children to be exposed to a world of words which they can take with them on their learning journey

Approach to Reading  

Reading is seen as a clear priority on class timetables and the teaching of reading at Maple Grove Primary School is made up of the following elements:

• Home Reading- daily
• Phonics- daily within EYFS and KS1 for all children and LKS 2 if needed.
• Daily Whole Class Reading in the form of Little Wandle guided reading for EYFS and KS1, VIPERS sessions. 4 x a week 30 mins. These are separate to but may complement literacy sessions.
• Modelled and shared reading within the English curriculum and across the wider curriculum.
• Pupils regularly reading books and stories aloud (timetabled and consistent across the key stage) evident in subjects beyond literacy.
•  A story time/class novel daily featuring ‘demonstrated reading’ from the teacher (a chance for the teacher to model fluency and the process of making inferences when reading to pupils).
• Opportunities for fluency development (reading of a text is modelled by an adult or a peer. Pupils then have the opportunity to then read the same text aloud with appropriate feedback).
• Teachers extending pupils vocabulary across all subjects.
• Classrooms to show reading as a clear priority in all classrooms.
• Pupils have access to high quality texts.
•  Access to the school library.

From Year 2 onwards, the children take part in whole class guided reading lessons. For the children, the guided reading lesson means reading, oracy, and writing about an interesting variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. The children take on reciprocal reading roles (predictor, summariser, clarifier and questioner) that focus on comprehension strategies which they can apply to the reading of new texts.

At Maple Grove Primary School all teachers highly value reading and understand its importance. We know that teachers who read aloud to their classes motivate their pupils to read. Reading helps to develop vocabulary, comprehension and information processing skills.

Phonics at Maple Grove Primary School

Phonics is the first stepping-stone to reading.  At Maple Grove Primary School we believe the teaching of phonics is integral to the child’s reading success.

We ensure children have a firm grasp of phonics through teaching using the Little Wandle programme in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. Little Wandle. is a consistent reading programme that combines the teaching of phonics and reading? We pride ourselves on our small group teaching of phonics which ensures the appropriate level of support and challenge for the children. Please see more information about however we teach phonics here.

In order to ensure that all staff can deliver high quality phonics teaching and early reading strategies, all staff have received professional training. We believe all staff need a firm foundation in early reading skills to support struggling readers at all ages.

All children in Reception and KS1 classes will receive at least one daily phonics session. We believe in a mastery approach to phonics where all children are exposed to whole class teaching.

The teacher is responsible for the teaching of phonics to all children; well qualified teaching assistants support the teaching and intervention, but the teacher has responsibility for the learning of all children

Children’s growing phonic knowledge is closely assessed and tracked, away from the point of teaching, to ensure that all staff know children’s strengths and areas to practise in reading. Home phonic reading books are targeted appropriately and are changed regularly.

Early reading

Alongside our teaching of phonics, children can apply their phonic knowledge using the Collins Big Cat reading books. These has been carefully selected to ensure that the home reading books are closely linked to the sounds that have been taught – so that children do not encounter words which they cannot decode.

Reading beyond phonics

Once children reach Year 2 and complete phase 6 in phonics and they can access more demanding texts, they will progress onto Book Banded Reader.  Reading books are graded by difficulty by reading levels known as Book Bands. Each Book Band has its own colour. The document below gives an indication of the range of Book Band levels at which most children will be reading as they progress through primary school.

The chart shows the progress of an ‘average’ band of children- but no individual child is ‘average’, so no child makes smooth progress precisely in this way. Children tend to learn in fits and starts – periods of growth followed by periods of consolidation when their progress seems to halt for a while. The periods where you don’t see rapid progress may be worrying, especially after a ‘growth spurt’, but they are important as your child develops confidence in using and applying their newly acquired skills.

In addition to the professional judgements of the class teacher, they will be assigned an individual book band level.  This level will dictate which books children can choose from. Our books are carefully organised into these levels making it easy for children to locate a book suitable to their needs.  Once a child has read a book, they take a short comprehension quiz to see how well they have understood the text.  The quizzes provide a great source of motivation to pupils but also provide essential information to teachers about how well a child has understood the content within the book.  Teachers can then use this information to make sure that the texts that children are accessing are suitable. 

Home reading expectations

We believe reading regularly at home has immeasurable benefits to our children. 

Our school provide each child with a home reading diary to record their reading and progress.  We expect our pupils to read at least 5 times a week at home and actively encourage parental involvement to support their children.

Children who do not read at home and are falling behind will be afforded reading opportunities with adults in school.

Developing healthy reading habits is something we strive to embed into our pupils from the very beginning.

Reception	Children take a phonic book home once a week which is matched to the appropriate phonic phase which has been taught. We recommend children read this book repeatedly during the week to develop their decoding skills and fluency. Children will also bring a reading for pleasure book home to enjoy as a family. We believe it is vital children develop a love of reading.
Year 1	Children take a phonic book home once a week which is matched to the appropriate phonic phase which has been taught. We recommend children read this book repeatedly during the week to develop their decoding skills and fluency. Children will also bring a reading for pleasure book home to enjoy as a family. We believe it is vital children develop a love of reading.
Year 2	Once phase 5 has been completed children can choose an appropriate levelled Book band book. They can read this at their own pace. However, the school expects children read at least 5 times a week to maximise their reading progress. Once the book is completed, they then take a reading quiz and can choose a new book.

Assessing Reading

It is vital that reading is continually assessed through school – not just when children are learning their phonic sounds or at the end of the year. At Maple Grove Primary School assessment is an ongoing process.

Reception and Year 1 children are assessed half termly to track progress and identify areas to develop.  When children reach Year 1 they will sit the phonics screening test in June to assess their phonic knowledge and understanding. If children do not reach the expected standard in Year 1, these children will be given additional phonic support and will be closely monitored and tracked into Year 2 where they will retake their phonic assessment.

Reading is assessed using a range of tools including bench marking, teacher judgments and more recently NFER reading assessments.  From Year 2, children will be assessed termly SATs reading comprehension tests.  These assessments provide accurate information about a child’s strengths and areas for development.