Journey of Reading through Carville Primary School

Children are taught explicit reading skills from the very start of their learning journey in Early Years. Children work towards Early Learning Goals (ELGs) in both word reading and comprehension. They are taught to use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and to read them aloud accurately. Applying these skills, children by the end of Reception will be able to read simple sentences and books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge. Children in Early Years are regularly exposed to high quality texts and opportunities for adult led ‘book talk’ in order to develop their early reading comprehension skills.

For pupils at an early Key Stage 1 phase (Year 1), teaching will be focussed on establishing and developing phonic skills, vocabulary and a basic understanding of content meaning in a group environment.

Pupils at a later Key Stage 1 phase (Year 2) will continue developing these skills whilst taking on more complex words, grammar and texts. Pupils are increasingly encouraged to read independently at allocated times to help develop an enjoyment for reading.

At Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) pupils continue to consolidate and embed their decoding skills, building up automaticity and fluency. Alongside this, there is a strong focus on comprehension, where pupils are taught key skills for developing their understanding of texts that they have read. Greater independence is encouraged in this age group to allow the development of attitudes and individual understandings of what they read.

Upper Key Stage 2 pupils (Years 5 and 6) will continue to develop their wider vocabulary and focus on diversifying their reading repertoire to multiple text types and styles. Alongside independent silent reading, group discussions take place with suitable supervision so pupils can share opinions on what they have read.

Following the publication of the ‘EEF Improving Literacy in KS2’ guidance report (April 2017), teachers have been trained in delivering activities to develop language capability, fluency and reading comprehension strategies.

Within classrooms, purposeful activities will include:

Language capability

• reading books aloud and discussing them;
• activities that extend pupils’ expressive and receptive vocabulary;
• collaborative learning activities where pupils can share their thought processes;
• structured questioning to develop reading comprehension;
• teachers modelling inference-making by thinking aloud;
• pupils articulating their ideas verbally before they start writing.

Fluency

This can be developed through:

• guided oral reading instruction—teachers model fluent reading of a text, then pupils read the same text aloud with appropriate feedback;
• repeated reading—pupils reread a short and meaningful passage a set number of times or until they reach a suitable level of fluency

Teachers model the reading comprehension strategies for prediction, questioning, clarifying, summarising, inference and activating prior knowledge during shared and guided reading sessions, whilst children have the opportunity to develop reading strategies and to discuss texts in detail during whole class reading sessions. Independent reading provides time for both assessment and 1-1 teaching.

English Curriculum

English units are fully aligned with our curriculum delivery model, using Sonar Curriculum to deliver a range of subjects in appropriately matched topic based blocks. This approach helps to deliver an immersive reading experience, allowing children to read with purpose and be exposed to a variety or text types and genres. Key vocabulary for each unit is explicitly taught, increasing pupils’ language and comprehension skills.

Our English curriculum follows a Reading into Writing approach. Pupils begin each unit of learning by exploring a range of examples of the chosen text type, studying their key features and becoming familiar with the intended purpose and audience for the text. Children are then taught how to use and apply these features to produce their own piece of writing in the style of the genre/text type.

High quality texts for each unit are chosen by class teachers to ensure pupils are exposed to a range of authors, writing styles, text types and genres.

Systematic Synthetic Phonics

At Carville Primary School, we use Floppy’s Phonics as our systematic approach to teach children to read in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Year 3. In daily phonics lessons, children are introduced to the ‘Alphabetic Code’. They systematically build up their recognition of phoneme-grapheme correspondences and apply these to decode regular words and read them aloud. Children are then given opportunities to practice and apply their knowledge, reading short sentences and reading books matched to their individual phonic ability. Regular assessment ensures children who need additional support are identified quickly and are given extra opportunities to practice with an adult.

The decision to continue this phonics approach into Year 3 allows children to embed and consolidate their phonic knowledge, whilst also supporting children who may not have met the expected standard in their Phonic Screening Check in Key Stage 1. More-able children are challenged with increasingly more complex decoding, as well as using phonics to support their spelling.

Daily Phonics lessons continue for Years 4, 5 and 6 using the Phonics International programme. As well as reinforcing decoding skills, Phonics International continues to support comprehension skills, spelling patterns and handwriting at an age appropriate level.

Guided Reading

A thirty-minute guided reading session takes place three times a week in school for KS2 children. Class teachers group children within their class by reading attainment and plan a carousel of differentiated reading activities for the children to access on a fortnightly programme. During each session, teachers will work with a group of children to analyse a text in detail, making sure each child can read each word and discussing meaning of the text with them. Independent tasks focus on comprehension skills such as prediction, summarising, vocabulary and inference.

Home/school reading

All children at Carville Primary School are given a school satchel to take home each night containing a phonics file, reading books and a reading record.

Pupils in Reception, Key Stage 1 and Year 3 take home a levelled Floppy's Phonics/Word Sparks book from school matched to their current stage of learning in phonics. Children are encouraged to re-read this book regularly in order to practise sounds that are being learned in their phonics sessions/interventions. Children also choose a 'reading for pleasure' book to take home to develop their own interests and encourage ‘book talk’ with others at home. Reading activities should be carried out every night and recorded in the Home-School Reading Record.

Children have home access to the Floppy’s Phonics Extra Learning Zone, where parents can use interactive sounds books to support their child’s learning, as directed by their teacher.

Pupils in Key Stage 2 use a reading system called Accelerated Reader. Based on individual reading assessments, pupils are assigned a level range to select their own books that are matched to their reading ability. Once children have read their book, they complete online quizzes to assess comprehension and allow their teacher to monitor their progress. As well as their levelled Accelerated Reader book, children take home a self-chosen ‘reading for pleasure’ book to enjoy.

Parents are encouraged to hear their child read the book and then record how they have got on in their home-school reading record. Parents are expected to read with their child daily. All staff support reading activities to ensure that children have more frequent opportunities to read with adults. Throughout the school, daily reading sessions (1.15pm-1.30pm) are used to target specific pupils. All other children should be heard read 1:1 once a week. In KS2, these children will be heard read 1:1 fortnightly as Guided Reading sessions will be on a two week rolling programme.

Reading for Pleasure

As well as teaching children the mechanics of reading, we aim to inspire and foster a love of reading as an enjoyable activity. Children at Carville Primary School are encouraged to pursue their own interests in reading material and enjoy reading text types that appeal to them the most, whether this be picture books, magazines, graphic novels or longer chapter books.

Pupils have the opportunity to choose a book to read for pleasure from book corners within their classroom, our well-stocked school library and the Library Bus, which visits school half termly. Books in school are regularly updated to include popular authors, recommended reads and recent releases.

Pupils are encouraged to join their local public libraries and become enthused by reading. At Carville Primary School, we recognise the value of adults (both in school and at home) reading aloud to children, in order to improve their grasp of story language, enthuse them with a love of books and inspire them as writers. Allocated daily reading for pleasure time in the school day allows children to listen to their teacher read out loud and enjoy a story together as a class.

Cross-curricular Literacy Opportunities

At Carville Primary School, we seek to take advantage of opportunities to make cross-curricular links. Teachers plan for pupils to practise and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through reading lessons to other areas of the curriculum and opportunities are taken for incidental reading teaching to take place during the course of the whole school day.

Children have access to a range of topic books (both fiction and non-fiction) to develop their wider knowledge of all subject areas. Vocabulary is explicitly taught and displayed throughout school for all subjects, ensuring children have the language skills needed to access their learning.

The Use of ICT

Children have access to ICT programs and apps that promote reading. These include: Oxfordowl.co.uk, Education City and Floppy’s Phonics Extra Learning Zone.

In addition to this, Accelerated Reader is used in KS2. Accelerated Reader is a computer-based program that monitors reading practice and progress. It helps teachers guide pupils to books that are on their individual reading level. Pupils take short quizzes after reading a book to check if they've understood it and their next book is chosen matched to their personal Zone of Proximal Development.

Assessment and evaluation

Reading is assessed continuously throughout the year, monitoring pupil progress and identifying children who require additional support. This is done through quality first teaching, pupil progress meetings, pupil/teacher feedback conversations and listening to children read 1:1.

As well as continuous formative assessment, summative assessment is carried out at the end of each term and Key Stage through the use of Phonics Screening Check, SATs, optional NfER assessment papers, STAR reader tests and Teacher Assessment.

As part of our phonics programmes, all children are assessed regularly using ‘Say the Sounds assessments as well as more formal word reading assessments at the end of each half term.

Our Reading Curricular targets ensure a continuity of progression throughout the school. Targets are produced at the start of the year for each child in KS1 and 2, matched to their current stage of learning. Curricular targets are shared with parents and children and are regularly reviewed by both pupils and teaching staff.

Inclusion

We aim to provide for all children so that they achieve as highly as they can in reading according to their individual abilities. Along with quality first teaching, Carville Primary School has a range of additional support available to enable all children to access reading provision at a level appropriate to their needs.

Special Educational Needs

Children who are identified as having Special Educational Needs in reading will be given support as identified on their IEPs. A variety of support materials are available from the SENDCO (Mr A Qualters) and dyslexia programmes are delivered as appropriate.

Additional technology to support children with identified needs include C-Pen Reader pens, audio books and text to sound apps.

English as an Additional Language

Pupils who have English as an Additional Language are provided with additional support to help them develop their reading skills as they acquire their knowledge of the English Language. EAL pupils are supported with targeted phonics and vocabulary intervention, as well as iPads to translate texts to assist with and develop comprehension skills. As well as in-class provision from their teacher, EAL pupils receive regular support from EMTAS. In order to encourage reading for pleasure and home reading, we have a selection of books available in dual languages for children to access.

Gifted and Talented

Children who are identified as more-able in English are appropriately challenged with increasingly complex texts and are encouraged to pursue their interests with the provision of a diverse range of available books.

More-able children have the opportunity to extend their knowledge of literature with children from across the Local Authority, attending workshops with children’s authors/illustrators and specialist English teachers.

Equal Opportunities

In order to engage all children, cultural diversity, home languages, gender and religious beliefs are all celebrated. Our curriculum includes a wide range of texts and other resources which represent the diversity and backgrounds of all our children.

Monitoring and review

Carville Primary School has a Reading Lead who, along with the Senior Leadership Team, is responsible for monitoring and reviewing teaching and learning in reading. This is done through:

• Lesson observations
• Professional conversations
• Learning walks
• Reviews of Literacy provision, including Intervention and Support programmes
• Analysis of reading data following termly assessment weeks
• Staff CPD sessions
• Team teaching
• Guided practice sessions