Reading | Roach Vale Primary School

Intent

To build a solid foundation of phonics knowledge and language comprehension necessary to read, and the skills to communicate, giving them the foundations for future learning
To ensure reading books connect closely to the phonics knowledge pupils are taught when they are learning to read
To follow a rigorous and sequential approach to the reading curriculum to develop pupils’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment of reading
To share high quality and vocabulary rich texts across the curriculum so that pupils develop knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live
To prioritise reading to allow pupils to achieve their full potential and access the full curriculum offer

Implementation

At Roach Vale, the teaching of reading and an enjoyment of books is at the core of our curriculum. We believe that reading is at the heart of a child’s education. Our curriculum is based on a vocabulary rich experience, where the majority of our learning and knowledge is rooted in books. It is our intent that our children foster a lifelong love of reading.

Through the delivery of our reading curriculum we ensure a consistent and robust teaching and learning of early reading and phonics in FS and KS1, so that pupils are able to read with increased speed and fluency and access the wider curriculum. We support our children’s understanding of texts through our teaching of reading comprehension. Children read and enjoy high quality fiction and non-fiction texts as part of whole class reading lessons. In these sessions children develop their key reading skills of decoding, Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising (VIPERS). They also continue to develop their reading fluency skills and broaden their vocabulary.

Our pupils in EYFS and KS1 read regularly in school to an adult, to ensure that we are meeting each child’s individual reading needs. One to one reading continues into Key Stage 2 for our priority readers, focussing on our lowest 20% to ensure continued progress. We have a range of intervention books that are used to support children throughout Key stage 2.

All classes enjoy a DEAR (Drop everything and read) session each day. This can be either whole class or individual reading and promotes reading for pleasure and an enjoyment of books. Children and staff are encouraged to share their own reading recommendations at school.

Regular reading at home is encouraged and promoted through class and school incentives. Children in Foundation Stage and Year 1 take home a book matched directly to their current phonics level. Children then progress through our school reading scheme – these are levelled books which match the child’s current reading ability. The reading schemes used include: Collins Big Cats and Rising Stars Reading Planet books.

We encourage all parents to hear their children read and talk about their books with them. Sharing reading and an enjoyment of books is one of the most important ways parents can support their child and help them succeed. By showing and modelling an enjoyment of reading, this will positively impact on children’s attitudes and response to books and will instil in children a love of reading.

At school we support and encourage reading through a range of reading initiatives –

Reading transformers – year 6 children support daily readers in younger classes
Whole school and class reading challenges
Drop in reading sessions for parents – 3pm each day for different classes
Pupil librarians work with the reading lead
Parent volunteers help to run the library
Children in each class are involved in developing their class reading area
Annual events to support reading – reading week, World Book Day

Impact

All pupils will be able to read with accuracy, speed, confidence, fluency and understanding, ready to access the secondary school curriculum. All pupils will make at least good progress from their starting points. Pupils will develop a life-long enjoyment of reading and books.

Reading