READING
Intent
We value reading as a fundamental life skill and are dedicated to enabling our children to become lifelong readers. We have an ambition that all children will independently read fluently by the end of Key Stage 1 as we believe that reading is the key to overall academic success. We strive to promote a reading culture within the academy, so we have therefore reading areas are of high quality to further enhance reading for pleasure. Reading is the backbone of our curriculum, immersing children in high-quality daily reading experiences.
Reading Aims:
- To provide a language rich environment through oracy that promotes a culture of reading and writing;
- To develop in pupils a love of reading and promote high-quality literature that will not only support their learning across the curriculum, but also extend beyond the classroom environment and enrich their lives;
- To teach reading skills throughout the academy that continually develop children’s understanding and enjoyment of texts;
- To foster in pupils an interest in words and their meanings and to develop a growing vocabulary.
Our priority is both the teaching of reading skills and the enjoyment of literature, enabling children to become lifelong, confident readers. Children begin to read initially through the teaching of phonics. As children build some fluency, comprehension skills become more of a focus area and we concentrate on skills such as predicting, clarifying, inferring, analysing language and summarising. We believe that high-quality literature is key to motivating children to read and instilling in children a love of reading. This is why we use a wide range of high-quality literature in every class throughout the year.
Implementation
The Teaching of Phonics
Children are taught systematic phonics in EYFS and Key Stage 1 using the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme. Children are initially taught the initial sounds in groups. When they have learned these, they learn to blend the set 1 sounds to read CVC words. As children become more confident, they learn set 2/3 sounds and then eventually move onto reading digraphs, trigraphs and tricky graphemes.
To inspire early reading, initially children take home picture books to share with their adults, encouraging them to retell the story through the pictures. As they learn the sounds, they start to read books with words, which are matched precisely to their reading level. At this stage, they follow the teaching sequence from Read, Write Inc. Children take home a copy of the Read Write Inc book that they have been reading in class and a RWInc ‘book bag book’. These books are tailored to the specific reading age. Pupils are expected to use phonics as the strategy for decoding unknown words. Additionally, in school, children work on answering questions about the focus class text and clarify meaning and understanding of new vocabulary.
The Teaching of Reading
All children from Year 2, including those who take part in Read Write Inc have a daily class reading lesson which focuses on five key reading skills. These are predicting, clarifying, reading, questioning and summarising.
Teachers choose their Reading text using the Canon of Literature. High quality literature is used for these lessons including novels, picture books, non-fiction texts, extracts and poetry. All children study a focus text, reading sections each day embedding reading skills using techniques such as echo and choral reading. Children who are not yet fluent, access a daily fluency group to improve and secure their reading ability in addition to the class read. High quality extracts are used to expose children to a wider range of literature including a range of modern and classic authors. Challenging extracts and complex pieces of texts are used to develop vocabulary, knowledge of literature and genres.
In Reception and Year 1, children read picture books and use similar skills but at a more age-appropriate level. Teachers plan high quality book talk daily for the children. Sentence stems, discussion guidelines and oracy strategies are utilised to promote meaningful talk and impact positively on outcomes.
Impact
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to be fluent and confident readers by the end of Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, the focus moves onto fluency, inference and comprehension. Attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of EYFS and the end of KS1 and KS2. The results are compared nationally and are shared and celebrated with the Governors.
EYFS follow the Read, Write Inc assessments and measure the impact against Early Learning Goal in reading at the end of the Reception year. In Year 1 attainment is measured by the Phonics Screening Check, Read Write inc assessments and National Curriculum. In Years 3-5 Reading assessments are completed termly and attainment is tracked using the scaled scores. In Y6 attainment is measured as part of the statutory testing of the KS2 SATs. Pupil progress meetings are termly, where class teachers report on individual progress and personalised interventions needed to support and target outcomes and inform next steps.
At Maltby Manor Academy, reading is at the heart of the curriculum, and the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the assessment data. We immerse our children in reading opportunities throughout the curriculum and provide meaningful experiences to promote a love of reading such as our annual ‘Manor Book Festival;’ where we invite key authors to celebrate our reading culture. The high-quality learning environment impacts positively on the children’s engagement in reading and promotes reading at every opportunity, with a particular whole school focus being on the Key Stage 2 corridor and library areas exposing children to a wide range of reading materials and opportunities.
‘Opening Doors’ strategies have been embedded into the reading curriculum. All children are accessing high quality and challenging unseen extracts each week, exposing them to a wide range of vocabulary and literature. Children are accessing a wide range of genres and literature each week.
Reading diaries are sent home to engage parents in our reading culture and encourage children to read beyond the classroom. Regular ‘Stay and read sessions’ and opportunities to promote reading are organised throughout the year where parents and children engage positively such as Manor Book Festival, Pyjamarama Party on World Book Day. Stories are shared regularly in assemblies.
For children who access RWInc, online eBooks are available each week along with a sound quiz. Books are changed on a weekly basis and rewards are given to promote reading at home. RWinc teaching videos are shared with parents/ carers to model strategies for reading at home.