Reading

How we teach phonics and Early Reading (Early Years and KS1)

  • Children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
  • In reception and Y1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
  • Phonics starts in reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.
  • By the end of reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
  • By the end of year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
  • Children in year 2 recap any gaps in their phonics knowledge in the autumn term.
  • Reception lessons start at 15 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing quickly to 30 minutes.
  • Y1 lessons are 30 minutes long.

Reading practice sessions

  • Children across reception, year 1, year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a full matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
  • These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen three times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
  • The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
  • The children then take the same book home the following week to ensure success is shared with the family.
  • In reception these sessions start in week 4. Children who are not yet blending take a wordless book home.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

  • In reception, year 1 and year 2 at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
  • Children identified in reception, year 1 and year 2 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – these sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
  • In reception and year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
  • Children in year 1 complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
  • Children who do not meet standard in the Phonics Screening Check in Y1, will complete this in Y2. Support continues to be put in place for these children.

Reading for pleasure – Early Years and KS1

 Alongside daily teaching of phonics, reading for pleasure is an important part of our Early Reading offer. We ensure children develop a love of reading and are exposed to a range of interesting and relevant authors. We promote a love of reading in the following ways:

  • Teaching of poetry, which includes performing and learning a range of poems by heart.
  • Daily storytime.
  • Whole class reading sessions which include a range of books that are mapped out to ensure children have a rich reading diet, vocabulary is explicitly taught and children can learn key phrases in the book.
  • Book areas within the classroom which have a careful selection of books.
  • Alongside children’s decodable reading book, children also take home a reading for pleasure book each week from the library.  
  • Our reception class also take home a reading sack in the autumn term to encourage them to retell the story and to develop a love for reading.
  • Our year one pupils also take home a book without words to develop their story language.
  • All classes take part in reading buddies fortnightly. This is an opportunity for parents and children from other year groups to share their favourite stories with each other.
  • A reading dog comes into school each week.

How we teach Reading (KS2)

We teach reading comprehension through daily reading lessons. Each half term, children will read and analyse a fiction, a non-fiction or a poetry text. Reading lessons include:

  • An element of prosody (reading with feeling)
  • A close look at key vocabulary that children may be unfamiliar with
  • Unpicking the key skill focus for that lesson (retrieval, inference, prediction, summarising, vocabulary, making links)
  • Modelled answering of questions
  • Opportunities to apply the day's reading skills independently
  • A weekly reading for pleasure session
  • Teaching fluency by model reading, echo reading, choral reading and paired reading

In addition to our reading lessons in KS2, we also provide children with:

  • Opportunities to read for pleasure
  • Daily rapid catch up for children in years 3-6 (for any child who is not a fluent reader)
  • Regular storytimes
  • Regular, open ended discussions about stories and books.

Books that the children take home are carefully chosen to match the children's interests and their level of fluency.