Reading

Reading Intent

‘The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page’. (Rachel Anders)

This statement underpins our whole approach to reading. We believe reading is the source of success and a fundamental part of the curriculum. Learning to read opens up the door to all areas of learning and is a skill that will last a lifetime. Reading should be an enjoyable experience, and allows children to develop both their imagination and their vocabulary

As a school, we aim to share our love of reading and develop and ignite a passion in children for reading. We aim for children to become competent and confident readers, who are able to decode and read fluently whilst developing solid comprehension skills.

Independent readers should be encouraged to read for a sustained length of time allowing them to become ‘lost in a book’. Children must also read to access and make progress across the whole curriculum both in Key Stages 1 and 2. Reading is vital for future learning. School ethos, expectations and commitment to Assessment for Learning, ensures that children can become independent and motivated. Success through reading is the greatest motivator of all.

“Reading for pleasure, achievement for life”

Reading Implementation

We have a comprehensive reading strategy in school, beginning with phonics and early language to guided reading sessions, independent reading and shared reading sessions, aiming to create lifelong readers.

Phonics

As a school, we follow the Read Write Inc phonics teaching programme. This ensures children have the prerequisite skills for phonics learning developed effectively by following the Read Write Inc structured phonics programme which is tracked and assessed to ensure all children make effective progress from starting point to an end point of being a confident, independent reader. Phonics is taught daily in all EYFS and KS1 classes to targeted groups of children. 

Read Write Inc. Phonics is a whole-school approach to teaching reading that creates fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers. It integrates phonics with comprehension, writing, grammar, spelling and handwriting, using engaging partner work and drama.  Read Write Inc. ensures that phonics progression is covered systematically.

Reading Fluency

Reading fluency is the ability to read with pace and accuracy. To allow children to understand what they are reading they must be able to read fluently, both aloud and silent. Fluency is a crucial cornerstone of reading, and as a school we place an importance of supporting and developing a child's ability to read fluently. Whilst reading aloud children will use the correct intonation (Story Teller Voice) if they are fluent. Developing fluency is crucial to allow pupils to cope with the increase in the length and complexity of texts as they progress through the National Curriculum. As a school we prioritise reading fluency. In EYFS and KS1 this is referred to as 'Fred Speedy Reading' and further up the school into KS2 we encourage this through partner modelled reading. Children are assessed termly using our words per minute fluency test until they reach the required standard for their age group.

Whole class reading- Literary Leaves

We use Literary Leave (part of the Literary Curriculum) for the teaching of reading from Years 2 to 6. The scheme provides a range of sequenced activities that take children through whole books to teach reading comprehension and create critical readers. Literary Leaves use novels, poetry collections and high-quality, non-fiction books that connect to the Writing Roots through Literary themes.

Independent Reading

A key element of our reading learning journey is children reading individual books at levels that are both accessible and of appropriate challenge. Throughout their time at Penny Bridge CE Academy children will read books that are placed on our newly categorised  “Book Band’ scheme.

Children in Reception and Year 1 will read books from these banded books (additional holiday reading) alongside their RWI  Phonics linked books. After leaving the phonics scheme at the end of Year 1 or when they are assessed as reading fluently, children will be assessed and enter the Book Band system at the appropriate colour.

Our books are designated specific Book Bands according to their reading ability and maturity levels - for example, our 'Dark Red' level books have a level of maturity that we consider appropriate only for Years 5 and 6 pupils. We do not expect children to whizz through the Book Bands at a high speed, in fact our focus is for children to both read and understand texts in detail. We want children to read a breadth of text types and authors within each book band, particularly from lime upwards. 

Children will be heard read in school at least twice a week in KS1, at least once a week in LKS2, key readers,  once a fortnight (hopefully more!) in UKS2  alongside a half termly check for our confident readers. Children are expected to read at home at least 3 times a week or strive for five! Children should keep their home reading books for at least 2 evenings. 

Whole School Book Band Categories 

Whole Class Reading from our Class Reading Spine

We place a significant emphasis on whole class shared reading. This allows children to listen to the teacher read, which in turn helps them understand intonation and how to read fluently as well as extending their vocabulary. It also allows children to listen to the ideas of others and build upon their own, developing their comprehension, confidence and motivation to read. Please see the reading spine area of the website to see the reading for enjoyment texts for each class. 

 Assessment and Support

At Penny Bridge CE Academy, we believe regular assessment is essential to monitor and boost the progress of children. With continuous and regular phonic assessments across the year, children who are not meeting age related expectations are targeted for personalised learning in a small group or 1:1 intervention. We use PIRA tests three times throughout all year groups to determine a child’s reading age and inform interventions further. We also use computer-based programs as a boost for reading such as IDL and use Fresh Start in Years 4,5 and 6 to develop the reading stamina, speed and the comprehension of all pupils. Every term, from year 2 onwards, children are assessed on their words per minute and fluency levels. Any children who are not reading the correct amount of words for their age receive further intervention.

Love of Reading and Enrichment Activities

We simply love reading ourselves and this is embedded throughout school life. We regularly share stories and reading opportunities with our children. We link our learning to text which link to the rest of the curriculum wherever possible. As a staff team, we certainly promote this love of reading from our own personal perspective.

Like other schools around the world we too celebrate World Book Day! It is however important to remember that it shouldn’t be just about the children dressing up in a superhero costume that they’ve bought from the supermarket. We ask the children to bring in a book from home, one that includes their favourite book character; or if the children don’t have books at home, we support them in school to select from books they have read here. Staff too are great fun and also dress up and role play throughout the day.

Such an event can give children a real reason for understanding characters, expressing preferences, talking about books they have enjoyed and hearing about books from their peers that they might not otherwise have chosen to read. And perhaps, most importantly, it enables them to see the power of a shared love of reading.

We also celebrate reading together throughout the year by taking part in National Reading initiatives and local library initiatives such as the Spellbinding programme.  We celebrate National poetry Day and enjoy Readathlons.

Impact

When children leave Penny Bridge CE Academy at the end of Year 6, they are confident and competent readers with a passion for reading. They are able to read and comprehend a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts and participate in discussions about books, inferring ideas by reading between the lines, making predictions and evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader.   As a result, they will have a good level of comprehension and build upon their vocabulary knowledge. They also read books for pleasure and recognise the importance reading has for success in all other areas of the curriculum.

Children are assessed through a variety of different methods: regular reading leader phonics assessments, comprehensions, listening to children read and end of Key Stage assessments. 

Leaders monitor teaching and learning through child voice, parental questionnaires as well as book looks and learning walks and using the online app SeeSaw to record evidence of learning. The development of the children in school is also monitored through daily informal conversations.

As a result of our whole curriculum, we expect to see all children achieve well by developing knowledge and skills across the curriculum.  This is demonstrated through outcomes at EYFS, Phonics (Key Stage 1), Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

  • Children will develop lifelong learning behaviours such as pride, resilience and team work.
  • Our children will be able to understand, appreciate and success in modern Britain. Our children will develop a lifelong love of learning through our vision and drivers.
  • Our children will be responsible global citizens and courageous advocates through the Christian Values we have instilled in them during their time in school.
  • All children will leave our school, fully equipped for the next stage in their learning.