When we talk about reading, we say: “Reading grows our imagination and helps us understand the world.”

Reading is an essential part of our English curriculum and it is impossible to overstate the value of an aspirational, high quality English curriculum. There is a wealth of research that demonstrates the disadvantages that pupils with a poor understanding of English face throughout their lives. Therefore, English at our school is about teaching all pupils to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others. We love reading stories, telling stories, playing with stories and making up our own stories, and we do this with non-fiction texts too. We actively share our love of books and our enthusiasm for reading because reading gives pupils the chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. We also believe that reading can support our wider curriculum because reading can enable pupils to acquire the subject knowledge, vocabulary and ideas necessary to thrive in different subjects. In other words, we learn to read but we also read to learn.

How do you teach reading?

“Children's books change our lives more profoundly than any others. Because they come first, they shape us at the deepest levels, giving us ways to think about the world and our experiences of it, opening windows to other worlds, other experiences. They help us imagine the world differently, and that is how change begins.” S. F. Said

We believe success in reading is, above all, rooted in enjoyment. While children need to learn to read, they must also want to read. As stated in our rationale for teaching English, we actively share our love of books and our enthusiasm for reading. Alongside this positive approach, we also believe that a rigorous and sequential approach to the reading curriculum will develop children’s enjoyment, fluency and confidence in reading.

Children take part in a variety of reading activities including regular visits to our school library, daily group guided reading or whole class guided reading, 1:1 reading, ‘reading spine’ books that are read aloud and other special reading events.

Do you teach phonics and spelling?

In addition to immersive and rich reading experiences, we believe that children deserve a clear, well-structured, systematic phonics programme, because phonics gives children the tools to read and spell new words.

We teach systematically following the Bug Club phonics programme. From Reception to Year 2, children have daily discrete whole class phonics sessions. In Key Stage 2, some children continue to have regular phonics sessions, regardless of their year group, until they are working securely at phase 6.

For more information about our approach to teaching phonics, please read our Phonics Policy.

We teach the National Curriculum spelling programme from Year 1 – Year 6. The spelling patterns, word families and specific word lists are taught in class, as well as being sent home for additional practice.

What is ‘group guided reading’?

Group guided reading involves an adult working with a group of pupils reading the same text. Often the text selected is just beyond what pupils may attempt on their own. Group guided reading gives pupils the opportunity to learn, practise and consolidate effective reading strategies. Group guided reading also gives us the opportunity to promote the idea that reading can be an enjoyable social activity.

Group guided reading can play an important part in opening up the wider curriculum because it can enable pupils to acquire the subject knowledge, vocabulary and ideas necessary to thrive in different subjects (section 9.1). Therefore, we are currently increasing the number of sets of books that link to the wider curriculum in each year group.

Group guided reading happens most frequently in Reception and Year 1. During Reception, group guided reading is introduced and teaches the objectives set out in the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework’ (EYFS). In Year 1, group guided reading teaches the objectives set out in the Primary National Curriculum. In Years 2 to 6, we continue to teach the objectives set out in the Primary National Curriculum, but the focus shifts towards fluency and this is usually taught through whole class guided reading (section 9.2.3).

What is ‘whole class guided reading’?

We believe that all of our pupils, regardless of attainment, should be exposed to high quality books. From Year 2 onwards, we use a ‘whole class guided reading’ approach up to three times per week. During these reading sessions, the whole class enjoy a text together whilst learning and practising the reading strategies that develop ‘reading fluency’ (section 9.2.3).  We use whole class guided reading to:

• introduce all pupils to inspiring authors and compelling books

• grow the shared vocabulary of the class by noticing, celebrating, understanding and re-using new words together
• teach pupils to become more fluent readers by hearing a passage read aloud and then reading the same passage to a partner or to the class
• develop comprehension skills by giving pupils the opportunity to react to a text and then share their thoughts with a community of readers and in their reading journals
• deliberately expose children to texts that will support their own writing units and their knowledge and understanding of the wider curriculum

In Years 2 – 6, we are trialling this approach for three sessions per week. We use two further reading sessions give children access our school and class libraries and enjoy the books they have chosen. Readers who have gaps in their reading skills continue to read 1-2-1 with an adult in these two sessions.

What is ‘Reading Fluency’?

We aspire for all of the children at our school to become fluent readers. Fluent reading is the culmination of accurate reading, with a high degree of automatic word recognition and an understanding of the text. When someone reads so that the meaning of a text is conveyed through appropriate expression, both the reader and the listener are fully engaged. If a child can read fluently, their working memory is free from the burden of decoding word by word and they have, as result, more cognitive resources available for deeper comprehension. To teach reading fluency, we use a sequence of strategies which may include: modelled fluent reading, text marking, echo reading, paired repeated reading, summarising and unpicking author intent.

What are reading journals?

As part of group and whole class guided reading sequences, pupils are given opportunities to respond to the texts they are reading, with the aim of developing comprehension skills and acquiring new knowledge. In Reception, these responses are recorded in ‘Communication and learning journals’. In all other year groups, pupils use reading journals to record their thoughts and ideas. Through reading journal activities, pupils are drawing on background knowledge and working memory, making inferences and predictions, asking their own questions and exploring new vocabulary.

Class teachers have agreed that:

• reading journals are labelled with pupil name, subject, class and year;
• all work in reading journals is dated and has a short title or symbol;
• presentation is of the same standard as in English books;
• verbal feedback is appropriate for most reading journal work;
• reading skills developed as part of English units (for example comprehension work linked with the writing stimulus) will be recorded in English books.

What is 1:1 reading?

1:1 reading is when an adult works with one pupil. In Reception and year 1 all pupils read 1:1 with a school adult at least once a week. In other year groups, children who have gaps in their reading skills will also have this support. Parents and other reading volunteers also support us with 1:1 reading across the school. In every class, the teacher is responsible for directly supporting children with gaps in their reading skills and making sure these children have access to appropriate, high quality books.

What are ‘home school reading diaries’ and ‘reading logs’?

In Reception and Year 1, every child has a reading diary to be written in by all adults (at home and at school) who read 1:1 with that child. In Year 2, all children have a reading diary and these are used for adult and child comments and to monitor that books are regularly changed.

All children further up in the school who still read 1:1 with a school adult (section 9.2.6) also have a reading diary.

In Key Stage 2, children who receive additional support with their reading continue to use a home school reading diary. All other children keep a record of what they are reading at school and at home in a reading log. The reading log enables children, teachers and parents to see a child’s reading diet, and have discussions about book choices, variety and challenge.

Which books do pupils take home?

All children are taught how to use our fantastic school library during weekly visits. We encourage children to take home an age appropriate book. In addition to this, every child has a self-chosen book from their class library. Children should change books regularly and will be reminded to do so. Children who are learning phonics take home fully decodable books at the correct phonic stage.

All children learning phonics have a Bug Club account and can access books and activities online.

What is the ‘reading spine’?

An important part of sharing our love of books and our enthusiasm for reading (see section 9.1) is reading for pleasure. Despite the pressures on classroom time, our teachers read high quality books aloud to the whole class. We believe this benefits all pupils, particularly those who are not read to at home. We use our knowledge of children’s books to develop our ‘reading spine’. The reading spine outlines the high quality books that all of our pupils will hear on their journey through our school. Often, the books we read aloud are intentionally chosen to grow children’s knowledge and understanding in history, science or other wider curriculum area being studied at the time. Whenever possible, we follow the advice of Michael Morpurgo, ‘Let the children go home dreaming of the story, reliving it, wondering.’

How do you identify gaps and address them?

At all stages, phonics and reading attainment are assessed and gaps are addressed quickly and effectively for all pupils in the following ways:

• All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 phonics is regularly tracked, using agreed phonic tracking check sheets. At the end of Year 1, all eligible children are entered for the Year 1 Phonics Check. Children not reaching the required standard in this are given targetted support throughout Year 2 and are rechecked at the end of that year. 

• Children still not meeting expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check by the end of Year 2 are discussed with the INCO and signposted for further support.

• Teachers continuously assess children in their reading. To support with this, we carry out termly reading assessments (Y2-6), we also use formative teacher assessment during group guided reading (section 9.2.2) and whole class guided reading (section 9.2.4). In Reception and Year 1 (and for children in other year groups who have gaps in their reading skills) we keep individual reading records/diaries. 
• Across the school, volunteers work with targetted children, using our 1:1 tracking sheets.  

• We access LSS (Literacy Support Service). This is a bought-in dyslexia specialist service for children who continue to need additional help. The school receives weekly support and the sessions are run in school by a TA and overseen by the INCo. 
• We have a higher level teaching assistant who works alongside the INCo, teaching and overseeing reading interventions.
• All teachers across the school and support staff have had in-depth phonics training and there is an annual update for support staff.
• In KS2, pupils with gaps in their phonics knowledge, who do not receive LSS support, but who still have not passed the phonics check on entering KS2 receive on-going support. They are assessed and then grouped according to need and receive targetted phonics lessons at least twice a week. The class teacher leads one of these phonics lessons.

How do you offer reading support to pupils in Year 6?

In Year 6, we run a range of reading groups across the year. In small groups led by a trained adult, pupils read extracts from high quality texts with the following aims:

• to scaffold development of the ‘good reader’ comprehension/inference skills;
• to enable group dialogue about a text and the collaborative building of meaning;
• to build up children’s resilience in the face of tricky reading and give them the confidence to talk about their ideas; ask questions; and respond to, evaluate and challenge each other’s thinking;
• to encourage children to be self-reflective about their reading skills;
• to encourage children to enjoy reading and follow up the extracts by reading the rest of the book;
• to support the development of children’s self-esteem and well-being.

Should children have a learning bag or suitable school bag?

All new pupils are given a free book/learning bag, some older children use a school bag. It is important that this is at school every day. Pupils should change books from class and the school library regularly and will be reminded to do so by the class teacher.

How does Better Reading Partners complement the decodable phonics approach?

Children who start Better Reading Partners have already been in school for one or two years and not learned to read. These children take part in sessions lead by a school adult who has had training in this intervention. This intervention has phonics (the visual information) at its core, but the children are encouraged to use structural and meaning information alongside.

Better Reading Partners makes use of books that are carefully ordered so each new level offers a slight new challenge. This will include common exception words and sight vocabulary which are built up gradually as the child’s reading skills develop. The children read up to four books in a lesson which builds up their fluency and confidence.

Our ultimate aim is to equip children with the skills and knowledge they need to quickly return to class teaching only.

Where can parents and carers get help to supporting their child at home?

We have written a short guide for parents and carers entitled ‘Everything you need to know about READING at Carlton Hill Primary School’. This guide explains how we teach reading and phonics in each year group and how children can be supported at home. We encourage parents and carers to talk to their child’s teacher about any worries concerning reading.

We can:

•           offer reassurance and advice

•           suggest reading activities to do at home

•           support teaching letter sounds at home

•           target any extra adult support we may have at school to help support your child