Subjects

We are proud to be the winners of the Egmont Reading for Pleasure Award 2020

Click here to view our entry and read more about Reading for Pleasure The Egmont Reading for Pleasure Awards 2020 - Reading for Pleasure (ourfp.org)

Intent

Our core aims for reading are to ensure that all children: 

• Are able to read fluently now and in the future 
• Have a love of reading 
• Possess the necessary skills to be able to access and fully understand their reading 
• Develop a rich vocabulary which they can apply to other areas of the curriculum 
• Experience a wide range of reading material which excites, inspires, enthuses, entertains, informs, challenges and also develops the capacity to empathise 

Implementation

We believe the following are key ingredients in developing competent readers at Sayes Court:

Effective phonics teaching, independent reading, social reading, sharing what has been read, reading out loud, adults reading out loud to children, parental engagement, children experiencing a wide and rich variety of texts, children having a choice in what they read, explicit teaching of reading skills, good adult knowledge of children’s literature, ongoing training for all adults, and robust assessment.

In order to ensure that our children read quality texts, we have developed a reading and nursery rhyme canon and we also ensure that modelled texts for writing or those used in any areas of the curriculum are of a high quality.  Click here to view our reading and nursery rhyme canons.

What this looks like in practice:

• All children in Nursery through to key stage 1 take part in daily phonics lessons. Where children have not met the national standard for phonics, they continue to have phonics interventions in key stage 2 
• All children have regular opportunities to apply their phonics 
• When children come into school in the morning, they all read a book of their choice independently, for at least fifteen minutes, until the first lesson of the day begins. In EYFS, teachers initially support children until their reading stamina is developed 
• At the end of the day, teachers and LSAs read a story out loud to their classes. This is either a short story or novel depending on the needs and interests of each class 
• Each week, classes have a Reading for Pleasure session. During this time, they can read any book of their choice. Children are able to have hot chocolate, juice and biscuits and sit in comfort whilst they read
• Daily guided reading lessons take place in all classes. During this time, teachers focus on teaching reading skills which are reinforced across the curriculum
• All classes have dedicated library time each week, and adults actively support children to ensure that they find books they enjoy 
• Teachers carefully choose reading materials for daily storytelling, classroom libraries and reading across the curriculum, which may take the form of reading for information or as a stimulus for writing 
• Throughout the school day and across the curriculum, adults build in opportunities for vocabulary to be developed 
• Children are given opportunities to voice their opinions and provide feedback on the reading materials available in school 
• Parents are invited to be involved in their children’s reading by listening to them read daily, taking part in our whole school events such as book tastings and author visits. Parents are also invited to observe the teaching of reading skills in guided reading lessons 
• Assessment in reading is ongoing with children taking part in summative assessments at the end of each term. In EYFS and key stage 1 children are benchmarked to determine their reading level and the children in key stage 2 complete a reading assessment on Accelerated Reader to determine their reading age every half-term.
• Our lowest 20% of readers read out loud to an adult three times a week. The following support is put in place dependent on the need of the child: support in segmenting and blending when reading, phonics interventions on specific sounds and support in the confidence and skills to read out loud.
• All children are heard reading at least once a week by an adult

Schemes, Programmes and Resources:

• Bug Club – Reading Scheme – click here for more information
• Rising Stars
• CGP
• Literacy Shed
• Comprehension Ninja
• Classroom Secrets
• Accelerated Reader

Impact

The impact of our reading curriculum is as follows: 

• Our children make good progress in reading and attain in line with or above their peers 
• Our children develop reading stamina early on in school 
• Our children develop a love for reading 
• Our children have a wide-ranging vocabulary 
• Our children can use their reading skills across the curriculum. As a result of this, learning in all areas is enhanced