Reading
INTENT
At Sapperton, we believe that the ability to read is fundamental to our pupils succeeding; nurturing and inspiring them in becoming confident and thoughtful readers. The skills of reading are embedded in all areas of the National Curriculum areas and so are fundamental in the children’s learning within the wider curriculum we offer. The themes of nurture, faith, inspiration and success thread through our reading curriculum and it has been designed to ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop a love of reading. Our aim is to enable all pupils to gain a thirst for reading a range of genres and participating in discussions about the books; exploring the language used by different authors and the impact the written words have on the reader. We teach reading with the aim of children being able to articulate what being a reader involves: having a passion for words and books, creating images in their minds and being able to read as a writer, with fluency, expression and prosody.
We use a variety of high-quality texts that have been collated to expose the children to a range of genres that we would want them to have encountered by the time they leave primary school. We provide a progression of inspirational authors through the year groups that encompass relevant themes, including the Christian values of love, honour and trust, cover a diverse world of characters and authors and expose the children to different sorts of narratives in cross-curricula genre. They have been selected based on vocabulary exposure, protagonists and themes. We aim to ensure that because of this, the children develop an even greater understanding of the world around them. The spine offers our children a bank of core and supportive texts, fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
The National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage Framework are rooted in our learning and the units we teach are planned carefully to be inclusive and accessible for all children. There is a clear progression of skills and knowledge through the year groups. The two elements that make competent readers, decoding (word reading) and comprehension, help build Sapperton’s reading offer and are fundamental to learning in all areas of the curriculum. The threads of fluency, vocabulary and oracy also permeate through this approach. More information regarding the programmes of study from the National Curriculum and the EYFS Framework can be found here:
We prioritise reading and create an atmosphere of pleasure around it. Each classroom sets aside space and time to help achieve this culture; work is displayed across the school, and we aim for children to be able to discuss the pleasure they have taken from experiences of reading. Our annual whole-school trip Cheltenham’s Literature Festival ignites the children’s interests around reading and provides positive experiences for them. Time is provided for children in our class libraries, spending time looking through books to make informed choices about what they may want to read. Children are encouraged to read at home and the home-school relationship fosters Sapperton’s belief that reading is pleasurable and inclusive; something that everyone can access and enjoy. We share key information with our parents and carers so they can support reading at home well. Research proves that parental engagement with early reading is fundamental to supporting children’s progress and in children becoming more fluent as they move through the school. Read for Good is a charity that can help parents motivate children in their reading at home; giving ways to encourage children in becoming more independent as they move through the school. (Read for Good) The Reading Framework sets out the importance of reading from birth and the positive impact this can have on outcomes for children.
IMPLEMENTATION
Reading is an important part of our wider curriculum and is an integral part of all our lessons. To become a successful reading, discussions around texts are vital and so the skills of oracy are developed alongside the skills of reading, in every part of our offer. At Sapperton, we teach the knowledge and skills of reading through:
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Reading Curriculum |
Implementation in school |
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Floppy Phonics |
We use Floppy Phonics for our Systematic Synthetic Phonic programme. In Reception and Year 1 we have daily lessons beginning with children learning initial sounds and then the skills of blending and segmenting. We use a ‘Keep Up’ programme to support children learning all the sounds. These interventions are run daily. The children take home reading books to match the phonics they are learning at school to encourage repeated practise. The skills in decoding and blending are taught in this scheme. As part of our Phonics curriculum, children in EYFS and Year 1 are heard to read daily to support our assessments of their progress. |
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Whole class reading lessons – Focus on VIPERS – Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise/Sequence |
We teach lessons which focus on developing pupils’ comprehension of a text, through discussion, written and oral tasks; and the exploration of new vocabulary. Pupils will be taught to retrieve, infer, predict, summarise, analyse, sequence and evaluate a whole class text. We also provide regular opportunities for children to improve their reading fluency during these sessions and regular discussions are held around the choices of vocabulary and meaning of words and phrases. They are taught that these vocabulary choices are what underpins what message the author is given and so time is dedicated to this whilst we explore the other aspects of the VIPERS. |
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Story Time |
Each class will have 20 minutes at the end of every school day when adults read the class book. These books are chosen carefully to include a range of authors, genres and themes. The Reading Spine can be found on Sapperton’s Long Term plan. |
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Independent Reading |
We use the Oxford Owl reading scheme to give our pupils exposure to wide ranging texts and precise levelling to help them make great progress. We hear all pupils read weekly, enabling strong feedback and regular assessment. Some children will need more reading time with an adult and these priority readers will be heard three times a week to ensure that they make good progress too. Accelerated Reader is used alongside this for thorough assessment and to promote independent reading.
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Book Club |
This is a timetabled session in which our pupils discuss the books they are reading at home and gives us the opportunity to support them in choosing appropriate texts, thus creating more confident and happy readers. We encourage independent reading outside of school through Book Club and children are rewarded for their reading during this time. We use Accelerated Reader to help guide the children to the correct level of reading.
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Reading across the curriculum |
We maximise opportunities for pupils to read through our wider curriculum by using a range of fiction and non-fiction texts in our teaching of other subjects, such as Religious Education, History and Geography. Children need opportunities to ‘read as a historian’, for example, analysing and interpreting sources and discussing purpose and bias. Across Sapperton’s whole curriculum, these opportunities help give reading the platform of importance it deserves. |
Each Key Stage within the school focuses on age appropriate skills and uses a range of strategies and interventions to support the pupils.
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Key Stage |
Reading Curriculum |
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EYFS |
Reading is taught through shared reading, using large print books and picture books. Pupils are taught the process of reading; learning that words and pictures have meaning. Through a range of practical activities children learn familiar stories. Pupils explore skills such as sequencing, prediction and retrieval. Using the Floppy Phonics programme our pupils are taught the initial sounds and use them to decode and then blend to read words. The children take part in our weekly Book Club and enjoy time with reading buddies, sharing picture books and other books that they choose. |
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Year 1 and 2 |
The Floppy’s Phonics programme continues into year 1. Phonic awareness helps the development of reading by segmenting and blending sounds. Year 1s will be given a new Phonics book each week supporting the learning within the scheme. They also are given a ‘free’ reading book to build up a feeling of pleasure around reading at home. Year 1 and 2 read individually to an adult and in groups to support progress in the skills of fluency every week. Reading is taught through daily Whole Class Reading lessons where pupils explore prediction, sequencing, making inferences and retrieving information. Vocabulary knowledge underpins the comprehension of a text and so time is given to discuss new vocabulary regularly. Book Club is used to promote a love of reading and time is given each month for Reading Buddies with our year 5 and 6s where KS1 children share their favourite stories and books. We allocate time each day for an adult to read to the children; exposing all pupils to a wide range of classic and quality texts. Year 2 children will choose a book to read, guided through the Accelerated Reading programme. These books are quizzable and thus promotes a feeling of achievement when books are enjoyed and finished. Children who need support with specific sounds will also receive phonics interventions and can be assigned books to help learn specific phonemes. |
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KS2 |
In Key Stage 2, we teach reading through a whole class approach focusing on the curriculum domains. We use a range of age-appropriate texts which are closely linked to our writing curriculum, helping create a deeper understanding of purpose and of an author’s ‘voice’. Pupils explore predictions, learn to make inferences and summaries and retrieve information, ensuring that they can make justified responses using evidence from the text. Pupils are also given frequent opportunities to read aloud to develop their skills in fluency and discussions and tasks around vocabulary underpin other reading skills, providing children with the knowledge they need to comprehend texts deeply. Book Club is used to promote a love of reading outside of the classroom and Accelerated Reader is used to support children in their own choosing of books to read. Class books are read daily to the classes; carefully chosen because of their themes, authors and/or characters and we use these to encourage dialogue around a range of topics outside of the classroom. |
IMPACT
Attainment in reading is measured using the Phonics Screening Test at the end of year 1, Key Stage 1 optional SATs and the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage Two. These results are measured against the reading attainment of children nationally.
The school measures impact through:
- Half-termly phonics checks to ensure pupils are making good progress and highlight any individuals who need support in a specific area to close the gap and enable them to stay on track.
- Daily phonics immediate assessments that inform of any “keep up” interventions needed
- Phonics Tracker used every small term to monitor children
- Termly NFER testing to measure attainment against a national standardized score from year 1-6
- Regular Low Stake Quizzes to assess retention of skills and knowledge
- Regular opportunities to read to an adult to assess fluency and comprehension
- Contributions to Book Club to ensure all children are given the opportunity to read for pleasure
- What the children say about reading and their enjoyment of it