St Andrew’s CE VA Primary School

Reading

A high-quality education in reading will direct pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others. Through reading, pupils have a chance to develop emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and culturally. By teaching reading, we intend to impart pupils with the knowledge, understanding, confidence, attutudes, values and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and to become literate members of society.

At St Andrew's CE VA Primary School, the teaching of the reading curriculum has been carefully considered to enable our pupils to become fluent, confident and accurate readers. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme in EYFS and KS1 until the children have the skills and fluency to access age-appropriate texts. Our Progression of Skills Document outlines the objectives for each year group which are mapped out to ensure our pupils are given the acquired skills and knowledge to further their education journey into KS3 and life beyond the classroom. The Reading Progression of Skills document is fully compliant with the 2023 Statutory Guidance.

Our aim is to provide inclusive and aspirational environments and learning experiences where pupils thrive and build the cultural capital they need to make aspirational choices about their own futures, overcoming any barriers. In order to achieve this, our curriculum is underpinned by the principles highlighted in our key drivers.

Key Concepts

These are explored through different texts and text types appropriate to the age and ability of the child.

Word Reading: Children are taught to apply their developing phonic knowledge to read fluently and accurately.

Comprehension: Children are taught the skills to understand and question the texts which they are reading.

Second Order Concepts.

Within whole class reading sessions, children are taught a range of skills in order for them to understand texts.

Vocabulary: Children are exposed to increasingly adventurous vocabulary in order to widen their knowledge and understanding.

Inference: Children are taught to draw conclusions based on their reading both explicit and implied information.

Prediction: Using prior knowledge, children are taught to predict what may happen next.

Explain: Using prior reading of the text, children are taught to explain events of the text.

Retrieve: Children are taught to retrieve information quickly and accurately.

Summarise: With precision and conciseness, children are taught how to give a statement of the main points in specific parts of paragraph.

In Reading, by the end of EYFS children will:

Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary. They will anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories and will use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play. Children will say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and will know at least 10 digraphs. They will read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending. Children will read aloud simple sentences and books that are also consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.

By the end of Key Stage 1 children will:

Be able to read accurately and with increased fluency. Children will read without overt sounding and blending and will read most common exception words. Children will be able to answer questions and be able summarise events from a text. Children will also make some inferences based on what is said and done.

By the end of Key Stage 2 children will:

Be able to read age-appropriate texts with confidence and fluency. They will draw inferences about characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives. They will be able to make plausible predictions and summaries. Children will be able to comment upon a writer’s choice of language and explain the effect of vocabulary on the reader. They will make reasoned justifications for their views using the text to support their opinions.

Any child working below their age-related expectation, will receive a tailored curriculum with personalised objectives taken from our PiXL Curriculum Toolkit. This will enable all children to build the skills and knowledge needed to bridge the gap between themselves and their peers enabling them to reach their full potential.

Learning to read lessons

The systematic teaching of phonics is taught daily through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Daily keep up sessions take place to ensure that all children meet age-related expectations in phonics.
In KS2, we deliver the Rapid Catch up programme in Little Wandle. Each child is assessed and then given a tailored programme of interventions to ensure that they catch up to age-related expectations.
Little Wandle, Big Cat Collins reading books are used in EYFS and KS1. These books are phonetically decodable and assist the children in becoming fluent in phonemes and graphemes that they have just been taught.
During reading lessons, children read in small groups and will read a book three times in a week. The first time is for decoding, the second is for prosedy, to encourage correct use of punctuation and expression to show meaning and the third time is for comprehension.
For children who are on the rapid catch-up programme, phonetically decodable reading books, linked to their assessed phonics phase are given. These books have high interest content for older children and are completely decodable according to the phonics phases, enabling these children to catch up and become fluent readers.

Teaching reading

Reading in KS2 is delivered in whole class reading sessions and teachers deliver sessions focused on the keyareas of VIPERS. The books used in these sessions are carefully chosen, age appropriate texts which link with our key curriculum drivers.
Children in KS2 take home an age appropriate text each day which is from the Big Cat Collins reading scheme. These books encourage the children to develop their vocabulary and comprehension. In KS2, we encourage the children to read these books twice. The first time is to decode and the second is for fluency and comprehension.
Each class has a dedicated reading corner, which inspires children to read. A wide variety of books cover fiction, non-fiction and poetry are read to the children daily during the protected 20mins of reading time. The children also take home one of these books each week to read for pleasure.

Guided reading and whole class reading

Guided reading is introduced to children in Nursery. Nursery children are taught to hold a book the correct way round, turn the pages correctly and talk about the pictures in small groups. Children in Reception and Year 1 complete weekly Little Wandle guided reading sessions in the same way, in small groups. They are expected to use their phonic knowledge to segment and blend words to read in order to develop their fluency when reading simple sentences. The books they read will also contain tricky words and high frequency words that they are taught to read fluently by sight during their Learning to Read lessons.

Children are taught a range of reading strategies needed for them to tackle unfamiliar words and develop their automaticity, pace, fluency and stamina when reading. Children develop their language comprehension by presenting their knowledge of the characters, the plot and the author’s vocabulary choices in various ways, including drama techniques, such as hot seating and freeze frames, the use of ICT, drawing, presenting and writing.

From Year 2 to Year 6, children take part in daily whole class guided reading where they work in mixed pairs to read a text; either fiction, non-fiction or poetry. The same text is read daily and then children are expected to develop their comprehension and understanding of the text through participating in learning activities which explore the characters, the plot and the author’s use of sentence types, punctuation and vocabulary. Children hear the teacher read aloud as the model and then echo reading parts of the text in order to develop intonation, tone, speed, volume, expression and use of punctuation. During each whole class guided session children will be allocated sections of text in their pairings and will engage in repeated choral reading; taking it in turns to read aloud to their partner.

Assessment of reading

Assessment of reading is on-going. During small group guided reading sessions children’s word recognition and language comprehension achievements are recorded, as well as their individual next steps for learning and misconceptions. During whole class guided reading sessions teachers record on a whole class feedback sheet, where individual children who have exceeded the learning objective are identified, along with common misconceptions and children who need extra support.

At each assessmenhalf termly assessment point, children’s phonic ability, including identifying and pronouncing phonemes correctly, reading tricky words and reading sentences with words containing phonemes taught, is assessed. Children are moved onto working within the next phonics phase when they are confidently applying learning from the previous phase in their reading. Books children read in school and take home are then re-matched to their new phonic phase.

The impact of learning is measured through daily formative and regular summative assessment in KS2. Children who are not achieving in line with age-related expectations are given intervention sessions in order to address any misconceptions and to allow children to progress with their learning. At the end of each term, all children are formally assessed using a standardised PiXL test. These tests are used to carry out question level analysis to enable teachers to plan effective lessons and to break down barriers to learning.

	Early reading Policy 23	[pdf 137KB]
	Little Wandle Programme Overview	[pdf 567KB]
	English Writing Progression	[pdf 857KB]
	English Reading and Writing Coverage	[pdf 81KB]

Ways you can support your child to read at home

Sharing and reading books with your child is a great opportunity for learning. Talking about the pictures and asking your child questions about the characters and plot will support them to develop their understanding of what they have read or heard. 10 minutes of reading a day can make all the difference.

Taking your child to the local library (Bransholme Library) to read for pleasure is also a great opportunity to access a wide range of different texts and genres.

The Letters and Sounds (https://letters-and-sounds.com/) and Phonics Play (https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/) websites have a range of free resources and interactive games to support your child to develop their phonic ability.