Reading

Our Reading Strategy

Reading Vision (Intent)

At All Saints CE Primary School, reading is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that being a fluent, confident reader opens many doors and opportunities that allow our children to develop into independent, creative and life-long learners. We aim to enthuse a love of reading amongst our pupils by: building stamina for reading; by learning about authors; by learning about other areas of the curriculum through quality texts; by knowing and being able to enthuse about books and above all choosing to read as a life-long reader. We strive to provide pupils with regular opportunities to access and engage with a range of high-quality texts across a range of genres so that they are given a breadth of experiences to develop their own personal preferences and a pleasure for reading.

What does a good reader look like?

End of EYFS

Children use their phonics knowledge to read books with confidence and are building fluency.
Children talk about the text, re-telling a story, naming key events, describing characters, using some new vocabulary learnt.
Children enjoy listening to stories, rhymes, poems and other text.
Children attempt to read text in the environment using their sight/ phonics knowledge.
Children talk about their favourite books giving reasons why they enjoy these texts.

End of KS1

Children read most words accurately without overt sounding and blending with growing intonation.
Children read fluently (approx. 90 words per min) which allows them to focus on their understanding of the text.
Children check what they are reading makes sense to them, correcting any inaccurate reading
Children answer questions about what they’ve read and make some inferences
Children explain what has happened so far in what they have read and make a plausible prediction.
Children start to make links between the wide range of texts that they read across the curriculum.

End of Upper KS2

Children identify, summarize and paraphrase the main ideas of a text
Children justify their opinions when discussing a wide range of text and can express views and preferences on genre, author, poet, taking part in discussions and sharing recommendations.
Children enquire about their reading, asking themselves questions about a text to improve their understanding and/or to find out more to extend their knowledge.
Children draw on their experience of similar text to predict what might happen text.
Children infer, explaining their thinking routinely returning to text to explain their thinking.
Children evaluate the writer’s use of language and structure of the text and its impact on the reader.
Children evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the information they read.
Children read aloud for different purposes and audiences.

How is this achieved? (Implementation)

Assessment	Through rigorous assessments at all points of a child’s journey, we are able to ensure they are reading books matched to only the sounds they know and as they progress children are provided with appropriate reading challenge. We assess the children’s reading through RWI phonics assessments and Accelerated Reader, whilst comprehension is assessed through PIRA, guided reading and whole class reading.
Synthetic Phonics	Read, Write, Inc is taught to all children in EYFS and KS1 to give them a secure grounding in phonics. 1:1 catch up and Fresh Start programmes are used across the school to ensure that no child is left behind.
Whole Class texts	Aspirational texts, for reading and as a writing stimulus, have been carefully chosen to cover a wide range of genres and in most cases to develop children’s understanding of the wider curriculum themes. The texts are linked to our changing community and aim to ensure everyone is represented.
Comprehension	Comprehension is developed through the use of high-quality texts and book talk from EYFS to Year 1. This is further developed from Y2 through to KS2, through more formal guided reading lessons and daily whole class reading.
Exploration	Lessons are linked to the whole class text, where appropriate, to allow children to immerse themselves in the style of the genre. Children are given the opportunity to explore learning themes further through personal reading using school library texts, digital research and other reading materials.
Home-school reading	A clear strategy supports children to read regularly outside of school. The expectation is that an adult reads with a child 1:1every week. All children on the RWI programme take home a RWI book and once off scheme, children are assessed through Accelerated Reader and choose to take home books of their choice, at the appropriate reading and interest level.
Reading to writing	Writing lessons link to the curriculum theme a wide range of genres are used to enrich and provide a stimulus for their own writing.
Enjoyment	Our love of reading and story-telling is shared not only through the range of books that children read across the curriculum but through worship, class discussion, themed book/author emersion days, peer story time, recommended reads from peers, book buddies and book clubs.

Impact

From EYFS to Year 6, our reading curriculum has a positive impact on all pupils. As we strongly believe that reading opens the door to all learning, the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond results of statutory assessments. Children have regular opportunities to enter the magical world of reading as they develop their own interest in books, and a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles. Through the teaching of systematic phonics and guided reading, our children become fluent and confident readers who can apply their knowledge and experience of reading to the wider curriculum.

PSC Parent Meeting 2022