Reading Curriculum at Hazlemere C of E School

Statement of Intent

It is our intent that reading inspires, engages and challenges pupils and we aim to develop key skills to enable all children to become fluent and confident readers. We will support and encourage all children to decode, comprehend and enjoy reading regardless of starting points and strive to enable good progress through high-quality teaching and learning. Reading is an essential life skill and at Hazlemere C of E School we want our children to leave with a passion for reading. We aim to promote a love of reading across all ages by allowing children to access high-quality texts across the curriculum, encounter rich and varied vocabulary and develop their comprehension skills. We want reading to develop as a transferable skill which will enable pupils to become inquisitive; improve their spoken and written literacy skills and become lifelong learners.

Implementation

Reading in the Early Years:

We begin the teaching of systematic phonics as soon as the children begin school in EYFS. At Hazlemere C of E School we use Essential Letters and Sounds as the single approach to teaching phonics. Children’s phonics knowledge is assessed regularly. We have a 'keep up, don’t catch up' approach to reading and any child who struggles to make progress will be given 1:1 phonics to help them to overcome their issues and make accelerated progress. This provision continues throughout Key Stage 1, ensuring every child can learn to read. Learning to decode fluently and accurately allows children to become confident readers and enables learners to access all the enjoyment and excitement books can bring. In addition to the direct and systematic teaching of word-reading knowledge and skills, children listen to books and stories designed to develop their comprehension skills, make links between books and develop their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. 

Reading at Key Stage One:

In Year One, phonics is taught daily and is regularly monitored to ensure that each child’s ability is matched to their provision. At this stage, the children progress with their word-reading skills – both phonic decoding skills and the quick recognition of ‘common exception words’ to enhance levels of fluency, expression and reading stamina.  In Key Stage One, learners are supported to develop key comprehension skills which include predicting, understanding vocabulary choices, retrieving information, summarising, making inferences and using evidence from the text to justify their responses. We use V.I.P.E.R.S Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Sequence)as our method to explicitly teach each skill. Here the children read age-related texts and answer a range of comprehension questions both orally and in written form to improve their confidence and develop a love of reading.

Reading at Key Stage Two:

Reading in Key Stage Two continues to develop decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. Developing key reading skills through high-quality teaching is the priority for our children. In addition, studying whole texts in lessons – "Novel Study", develops children’s love of reading by giving them the opportunity to read and listen to texts and authors they might not have chosen to read for themselves, also providing opportunities to encounter a wide variety of genres. We have regular guided reading comprehension sessions to ensure that children read age-related texts and answer V.I.P.E.R.S questions (Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise) as our method to explicitly teach each skill. This whole-class reading comprehension approach is a powerful tool, enabling all children to make progress in reading and provides regular and supportive opportunities for children to encounter engaging texts that will resonate with their interests and capture their imagination. Carefully graded questions allow for children to develop their comprehension skills at an appropriate level.

KS1                                      KS2        

Cross-curricular work:

We use ‘Literacy Shed Plus,’ which provides our teachers with a range of high-quality texts, films and animations which are a stimulus for writing and simultaneously enhance the teaching of reading. Children across the school are introduced to a variety of good quality texts which link to different curriculum areas. 

                                          

 

Individual Reading:

As the children enter school, when ready, they will be given books to read which are linked to their phonics level. This approach continues into Y1. In Y2, children are given books to read which are colour banded. Once they have progressed through the colour bands, they become ‘free readers’ and can choose books from their class library. These books are age-related. Each year, the group has access to 50 recommended reads which they are encouraged to read over the course of the year. Each child across the school has a reading diary which they take home. They are expected to read on a daily basis for an amount of time appropriate for their year group. Diaries are checked every morning by a member of staff to monitor home reading.

                                                

 

Story Time

At Hazlemere School, we recognise that story time is an integral part of our day. Story time broadens horizons and also vocabulary and allows children to share their experiences. Each class has daily protected read time, which is an opportunity for the class teacher to share a good quality text with the class.

Buddy Reading

Across the whole school from EYFS to Year 6, a KS2 class is paired with a class from either KS1 or EYFS. The two classes will meet once a half-term and each child will work with a carefully selected partner from the opposite class. In their pair, the older child will listen to the younger child read their reading book and they will share at least one other book that is jointly chosen, the older child taking the lead in reading it and having a joint dialogue about the content and their opinions of the book. This process helps to further develop children’s reading skills and promote a love of reading.

Intervention

In KS1, children have additional phonics, either 1:1 or as a group to help them make the correct amount of progress in their phonics and reading. This continues into KS2 should a child not pass their phonics screening check by the end of Year 2 or is struggling to acquire their phonics skills.

Impact

Assessment 

The impact of how we teach our children to become readers is demonstrated through teacher assessment, termly standardised tests and phonics assessments, in addition to national testing.

• EYFS Reading %
• Year 1 Phonics Screening Results
• KS1 Reading Attainment – Teacher Assessment/PIRA termly assessments
• KS2 Reading Attainment – Teacher Assessment/PIRA termly assessments/SATs

Learners 

Children will have a love of reading and make at least good progress in reading from their last point of statutory assessment or from their starting point in EYFS.

Children will use their reading skills as a key tool in helping them to learn, and as a result, know more, remember more and understand more.

Children will make at least good progress in reading, writing, speaking and listening from their last point of statutory assessment or from their starting point in EYFS.

 Children will use their English knowledge and skills, in all curriculum areas, to enable them to know more, remember more and understand more.

Reading Events

We instil enthusiasm for reading through our reading curriculum provision and complement this with special events. Some of the ways we do this are:

• Virtual/in-person author, poet and illustrator visits
• World Book Day celebrations
• Book swap events
• Book fairs
• Parent events
• Pre-loved book sales
• Readathon – raising money for charity.