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Reading

To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark ― Victor Hugo

Intention (Why do we teach what we teach?)

At Croscombe Primary School, we believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them; a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share in cultural experiences and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our reading curriculum strives to support every child to learn to read quickly and accurately, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. We endeavour to foster a love of reading and a knowledge of a variety of authors in order that our children choose to continue to read for pleasure. By doing so, we aim to equip them with the skills necessary to succeed in all areas of their education and beyond.

We aim for all our children to:

  • Develop a life-long passion for reading and books both at school and at home
  • Develop their fluency and comprehension in reading through a progressive curriculum and reading scheme
  • Be given children high quality and consistent phonics teaching to enable them to have a secure grasp of phonological awareness by the time they reach Year 2
  • Be immersed in a wide variety of texts to develop their cultural capital and familiarity with different genres
  • Be challenged through skilful questioning and discussion alongside exposure to a wide variety of authors
  • Develop their vocabulary through access to high quality texts and discussion
  • Use drama and role-play, where appropriate, to immerse children in the text.
  • To read widely across the curriculum

 

Implementation (How do we teach it ?)

To achieve our intent, Croscombe Primary School will implement a multifaceted approach to teaching reading, incorporating a range of high-quality resources and techniques:

Phonics and Early Reading

We teach phonics through the Read, Write, Inc. (RWI) systematic, synthetic phonics scheme. This programme is taught in Reception to Year 2. Through six weekly online assessments, we ensure that children are working at challenge level in a group matched to their ability. Our lowest 20% and ‘spotlight’ pupils receive 1-1 Tutoring to ensure that they make rapid progress and catch up quickly. We also ensure these children are read with by an adult at least three times a week. Pupils who are not fluent readers in Year 3, also continue with the scheme, but from Year 4 they take part in ‘Fresh Start’ sessions. Every lesson starts with a speed sounds session. Children are grouped to learn Set 1, 2 or 3 sounds, following regular assessment. During this session, pupils learn a new sound, practise reading words containing this new grapheme and speedily read review words which are not new. Pupils have the opportunity to apply their knowledge of the new sound, by reading nonsense (pseudo) words.

Whole Class Reading Skills

Alongside the RWI scheme, children are taught “reading skills” in regular whole class reading sessions. We use the Twinkl Reading Dogs programme alongside high-quality texts from our reading spine. These lessons will focus on developing specific reading skills such as comprehension, inference, and vocabulary. These texts are sometimes used as a spring-board to stimulate high quality writing outcomes and are often linked with other areas of the curriculum.

Story Times

Every class will enjoy daily story times, where teachers will read aloud high-quality texts from our reading spine to their pupils. This practice not only models fluent reading but also instils a love for stories and books, helping to create a positive reading culture within the school.

Celebrating reading and our Reading Environment

To encourage the children to read, we have introduced a ‘raffle ticket’ scheme. For every 10 reads, the children can put a ‘raffle ticket’ in a class jar and, at the end of term, a ticket will be pulled with the winning ticket holder receiving a book or book token.

We celebrate significant events like World Book Day and Roald Dahl’s birthday by organising a variety of engaging activities, such dressing up as favourite characters, storytelling sessions, and workshops. These annual events help to highlight the joy and importance of reading. We are also lucky enough to be invited to a local annual book fair, where the children have the opportunity to listen to authors share their experiences and creations.

Our school features high quality reading areas that are adored and maintained by the children. These comfortable and inviting spaces, stocked with a diverse range of books, allow children to immerse themselves.

Parent Workshops and Home Reading

In order to support our parent community, we offer parent workshops and classroom visits where parents can join in phonics sessions with their child. We also offer support on how they can help their child to read at home. We have access to the RWI portal, where we can send parents links to videos and other resources. We expect children to read with an adult at home a minimum of three times a week and check this through regular monitoring of reading record books.

Impact (What has been the impact and how do we know?)

The impact of our teaching at Croscombe Primary School will be regularly assessed, using both formal and informal methods, to ensure that our pupils are meeting their potential. We will regularly gather feedback from our pupils to assess their enjoyment and engagement with reading and to identify any areas for improvement. Input from parents will be invaluable in gauging the effectiveness of our home reading initiatives and community events, helping us to enhance support for children’s reading development.

We also use a combination of the following assessment tools:

  1. PIRA Assessments (Progress in Reading Assessment) and Testbase, Three Times a Year. These standardised tests will allow us to track pupils’ reading progress and understanding, providing valuable data to inform our teaching strategies. These are used to unpick the difficulties pupils are having, which supports leaders in finding suitable interventions to help move pupils’ reading forward.
  2. Phonics Screening Check data: We will closely monitor our Year 1 phonics screening check results to assess the progress and attainment of our pupils, adjusting strategies as needed to ensure all children achieve their potential.
  3. Six-Weekly Read Write Inc Phonics Assessments: These regular checks will monitor pupils’ progress in phonics, ensuring that any gaps in learning are promptly addressed and that pupils are on track with their phonics development. Regular assessment and monitoring carried out by the Reading Lead means that vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils (including Pupil Premium and SEND) are tracked closely. They are grouped according to need and expert teachers teach the lowest ability. Pupils who are not making sufficient progress and are in the lowest 20% of readers receive fast track tutoring, which is one to one where possible.
  4. Performance Data: In order to prepare pupils for SATs in Year 2 and 6, there are opportunities to practise papers throughout the year. End of Key Stage assessments take place at the end of the year and these results are published. In Early Years, Early Learning Goals are assessed and published. There are two ELGs for Reading: Comprehension and Word Reading.