Our Reading Curriculum
Reading
Intent
Reading is the gateway skill which enables all children to access learning in all areas of the curriculum. Our intention at Snapethorpe Primary School is that all children leave our school being able to read confidently and fluently in order to access all areas of the curriculum, as reading is fundamental to many aspects of life. We aim for all children to leave our school with a love of reading for pleasure, as well as a deep understanding of reading for meaning.
Implementation
Children will be supported on their journey by building on from a strong early reading foundation using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. In order to do so, all pupils move on to the Little Wandle Fluency programme, which is designed to develop their prosody and comprehensions skills. When children show sufficient fluency, they move on to our programme of daily whole class reading lessons. This is designed to enable children to develop key comprehension skills e.g. vocabulary development, retrieval of facts and inferring information as reading skills. The structure of the teaching sequence is shown below.
If a child requires further intervention over and above in order to help them keep up with the expectations of the curriculum, specific reading interventions such as 'Herts for Learning' is used to accelerate their knowledge and understanding. Staff receive specific training in order to ensure that programmes are delivered with fidelity.
Linking Reading & Writing
At Snapethorpe Primary School, we believe that reading and writing are interconnected skills. By immersing the children in a wide variety of high-quality and diverse fiction and non-fiction texts, they are exposed to a diet of rich vocabulary and purposeful sentence and organisational techniques. All of which, they are then able to apply in their own written work. In order to ensure that this takes place, we use a high-quality text driver as the basis for each unit of English work.
Progression in Reading Skills
Click here to see our Reading Progression across years 2-6.
Reading for Pleasure
We believe it is important for every child to read and for every child to be read to. Children have access to high quality and diverse texts to use when they read for pleasure. Class texts are chosen from our Reading Spine and are read during our timetabled ‘Class Novel’ session. During this time, fluency is modelled to pupils, discussions around the books takes place and children are given the opportunity to discuss books they have read and any recommendations they have.
Reading Ambassadors
Reading Ambassadors will be working towards promoting reading and reading for enjoyment across the school. They participate in a weekly book club, where they share their own book recommendations, read and discuss traditional and new texts, and research a variety of authors. This allows pupils to gain a wider knowledge around literature, which they can then share with their classes.
Our Library
The school library is a wonderful resource to help children with their learning. Classes have an allocated time each week, which gives pupils the opportunity to come and explore the books we have to offer. Each child can borrow a book from our library to take back to their classroom to read for pleasure. We have a wide range of non-fiction books to link with class topics and fiction books to suit every type of reader. Having close links with the Schools Library Service, provides us with a wide range of books that are changed and updated regularly. This service also allows classrooms to loan books to suit the needs of their children, whether that be a particular topic they are studying or to cater for children's specific interests.
Assessment
Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support so that it can be implemented as soon as they need it.
Assessment for learning:
- Daily within class to identify children needing support and identifying next steps in their learning.
Summative assessment is used:
- Attainment in reading is judged on a termly basis in order to assess progress, identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed and identify any children who require additional support. This is done through on-going teacher assessment in combination with standardised tests from Year 2 onwards.
- Reading fluency assessments are completed on an annual basis. This information, forms part of the whole reading attainment judgement.
Statutory assessment
- Children in Year 6 complete the Reading SAT in line with national guidance.
Helping Your Child Read at Home
Developing an early love for books and story is vital in helping children become enthusiastic and skilled readers. Children who read regularly both at home and at school, grow in confidence much more quickly and develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime. That is why, our Homework Policy states the expectation that all children are to read at home a minimum of 3 times per week.
If you would like any support or guidance to make home reading sessions a pleasurable experience and to maximise their impact, please speak with your child's class teacher.
Helpful hints
- Read little and often.
- Before reading, pick out any words you think your child may have difficulty reading or may not understand the meaning of. This will help their fluency and understanding.
- Vary how you read. Read together, read to your child and take turns or have them read to you.
- Before reading, talk about the cover, the title and the pictures, and discuss what the book may be about.
- During reading, discuss what has been read up to that point and predict what might happen next.
