‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.’
Dr Seuss
Intent- Why are we teaching this?
At Luxulyan, in partnership with our parents/carers, we believe that reading is the key that unlocks many doors to learning in other areas of the curriculum. Our children should:
- Experience an environment which is literacy rich.
- Be encouraged to love books and read for pleasure.
- Be taught how to decode and decipher words for themselves.
- Share the love of reading with family, friends and adults at school.
We believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. We want pupils to develop a love of reading; a good knowledge of a range of authors; be able to see themselves and their families represented in a text and be able to understand more about the world around them by reading.
By the end of their time at our school, all children should be able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in reading and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress. We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance the skills being taught in school through good quality texts.
Implementation- How is this being taught in the classroom?
EYFS & KS1 Read Write Inc.
At Luxulyan, we teach our pupils to read using the Read Write Inc program. Pupils are taught daily and in small groups by their reading stage, not age. They learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They develop a love of reading by experiencing success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ or 'red' words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice. Once pupils’ decoding skills are secure, they take part in Whole Class Reading sessions which focus on comprehension skills. Pupils continue to access the RWI programme if their decoding skills are not secure at the end of Key Stage 1.
KS2 Reading Vipers
By Key Stage 2, we expect all our pupils to be ready for daily Whole Class Reading sessions. These focus on vocabulary development, the development of specific reading skills through a VIPERS approach, see blow for the skills) and immersion in a wide range of texts. These lessons use high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts as a stimulus for deeper thinking and discussion and to promote reading stamina. Children are encouraged to make links between the texts and use them to develop their knowledge of the world around them.
V- Vocabulary
I- Inference
P- Predict
E - Explain
R- Retrieve
S- Sequence and Summarise
Reading for Pleasure
Reading for pleasure is promoted through our whole school Reading Spine where texts have been specifically chosen to inspire a love of reading in all pupils. These books are widely promoted throughout classrooms and pupils are actively encouraged to read all their year group texts each year.
Every class has a reading corner and a selection of books to interest and enthuse the children. We have recently developed our school library to be an exciting environment filled with a variety of books ready to whisk the reader away to a different world!
Accelerated Reader
From Year 2, pupils have the freedom to choose their books based on their Accelerated Reader Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and dedicated time is allocated in the timetable for children to read independently. They develop their comprehension skills by regularly quizzing on the books read and take pride in being accurate.
Parents are encouraged to be involved in their child’s reading journey from their child’s early years through parent’s phonics meetings at which the structure and key vocabulary and skills from RWI are explained. All children have a home-school reading diary and are encouraged to read aloud daily at home.
Impact- What is the effect?
- Pupils will read for pleasure and develop a lifelong love of books.
- Pupils will enjoy reading across a range of genres.
- Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all reading lessons.
- Pupils will use a range of strategies for decoding words, not solely relying on phonics.
- Pupils will have a good knowledge of a range of authors.
- Pupils will be ready to read in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.
- Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support reading at home, and contribute regularly to home-school records.
- The percentage of pupils working at the expected standard within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
- The percentage of pupils working at greater depth within the expected standard will be at least in line with the national average.
- The will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged).
