St Mewan Community Primary School

Our Curriculum

Reading

St Mewan CP School - Reading

2023 - 2024

Intent:

Reading underpins all learning which takes place across a child’s life. It is the primary method through which children discover and explore the wider world and develop their knowledge and understanding of the world. Reading provides children with the opportunity to access and develop knowledge and skills in all areas of the curriculum as well as enabling them to share in the thoughts, opinions and beliefs of others and develop their own thoughts, opinions and beliefs. A world without reading is a very isolating and limiting thing. The ability to read, and early-reading skills, are direct predictors of success in education, careers, well-being and mental health in later life. We believe the skill of learning to read is therefore essential and critical to success in education and beyond. As our school intent is to enable children to reach their full potential academically, socially and emotionally, we therefore place huge importance on teaching and developing the skill of reading early on; developing it to a high standard; and on supporting those for who reading is a challenge as early as possible and to the highest possible standard. Our intent is that all pupils learn to read quickly; develop their reading progressively throughout the school; and leave our school as confident readers who enjoy reading and who are well-prepared to access the next stage of their education fully. Our intent for reading at St Mewan is as follows:

To ensure all pupils complete structured phonics programmes by the end of Year 1.
To ensure intervention is made early to support those falling behind - a 'keep up, not catch up' approach.
To ensure late joiners to the school are supported in achieving to the same standard as their peers.
To ensure assessment is rigorous and identifies and provides support (where it is required) quickly.
To ensure reading teaching is progressive and that attainment in KS1 and KS2 statutory assessments are at the very least in-line with (or show progress) against the same children’s phonic screening attainment.
To develop a love of reading for all pupils through the sharing of texts.
To create a school environment where a love of reading is evident and shared.
To motivate parents to engage with their children’s reading and the sharing of stories.
To develop pupils’ own abilities to share and choose texts through developing their awareness of their preferences in reading.
To develop pupils who are readers by choice.
To create a wider curriculum which develops and uses reading skills to enhance a children’s knowledge and skills in other subjects.
To develop vocabulary.
That all staff demonstrate and share a love of reading with pupils.
That the teaching of reading is the responsibility of all staff members, led by the reading and phonics leads.
That all staff our equipped with high quality CPD to enable them to be experts in reading.
To ensure home reading is matched to the sounds pupils know.
That skills in reading and reading comprehension are explicitly taught across the school.
To ensure all pupils experience a wide range of texts, genres and authors during their time at school include authors from diverse cultures, races and localities.
To provide opportunities for pupils to discuss texts and share their viewpoints.

Implementation:

We achieve this through effective pedagogy and assessment stemming from useful research about educational practice. This means:

Phonological awareness is developed in all pupils through our EYFS provision (including the nursery).
All children begin structured phonics programmes on entry to the school in Reception. RWinc Phonics is also introduced during the Summer term of our Nursery where phonological awareness is developed already.
We systematically teach phonics across EYFS and KS1 following the RWinc approach, which follows the national curriculum and meets the termly expectations for the teaching of phonics. This includes direct teaching of the relationship between graphemes and phonemes and moves towards decoding and fluency.
Phonics teaching takes place daily in rooms identified and resourced for that purpose by trained staff.
Phonics groupings are created based on ability and need as a result of regular assessment.
Early Readers book choices are matched with the phonic sounds they know.
Early and well-structured intervention is provided for pupils falling behind with phonics, decoding and comprehension in EYFS & KS1 as well as KS2, to enable them to catch-up quickly.
Those who are unsuccessful in passing the phonics screening in Year 1 continue with systematic phonic programmes (RWInc & Freshstart) until they successfully know their phonics.
Pupils who join the school at a later date are assessed for phonics skills and phonological awareness on entry and provision is made for their needs.
All children (excluding those with identified significant cognitive delays) are expected to achieve the phonics screening check by the end of Year 1.
We aim for the number of children achieving the expected standard in statutory KS1 and KS2 Reading assessments to be above national.
A love of reading is developed through engaging reading spaces, diverse opportunities, a wide range of texts and ‘wow’ moments as well as a progressive book curriculum.
Parents are supported in helping their children with phonics and reading through parental workshops in EYFS, KS1 and KS2 as well as materials to support reading at home provided annually (and more regularly) by the school.
Books are shared daily in class for the pure enjoyment of reading.
Pupils are provided with opportunities to discuss and develop their own preferences in reading and to share these with others.
Reading is seen as a priority for the whole school community.
Opportunities are provided to share and enjoy texts collectively as a key stage (through assemblies), and with parents (through experience days).
Parents are invited to take part in whole-school and class reading events.
A reading garden has been developed, as well as the library and corridor library. All of which are resourced regularly and diversely.
Reading CPD is delivered to ALL staff regularly.
Reading lessons are timetabled and structured to ensure high-quality, skills and knowledge based provision.
Reading for pleasure is timetabled, as is time in the library, book exchange and reading garden and daily accelerated reader time.
Reading Ambassadors are being introduced within the school and set a positive example through leading assemblies and planning projects to inspire a love of reading in their peers.
Books are valued, well-cared for and invested in.
Pupils are given choices in their reading; taught how to do so appropriately and encouraged to discuss these.
Pupils are encouraged to re-read books to develop fluency.
Pupils are not asked to ‘guess’ words from the pictures.
Fluency groups are provided for those with sufficient skills in decoding but who struggle to read at an age-appropriate speed and ability.
All staff receive phonic and ‘early reading’ training regardless of the phase they work in. When new staff join, catch-up training is delivered as soon as possible.
A RWinc lead is identified who supports colleagues in training, resources and in delivering sessions.
The RWinc and English lead work closely together to ensure effective progression in pupils reading skills.
The English Lead plans sessions for Early Readers in KS2 and works alongside the TAs delivering these sessions to provide for the needs of these pupils.
Reading is incentivised in a way which promotes reading as an enjoyable pastime.
Reading lessons take place daily and include opportunities to read and analyse texts, answer questions relating to texts and to deduce and infer the meaning of new vocabulary.
Having fun with language is a theme throughout the school, prioritised through Word of the Week and Vocabulary Displays.
Guided Reading and whole-class reading sessions are carefully planned using the National Curriculum objectives. Teachers choose their objectives and plan progression effectively across the year.
A book progression document has been developed selecting texts which we believe all children should and will experience on their journey through St Mewan to develop their cultural capital.
Teachers are trained in how to select texts appropriately to ensure a range of genres are covered and a range of techniques in reading comprehension are taught.
We have a progression of reading skills which informs teachers of the skills, knowledge and opportunities they need to provide in each year group and those which have already been covered which may require consolidation.

Evidence on implementation policies can be seen in our ‘How we teach reading at St Mewan’ document.

Impact:

The impact of our reading curriculum is continually evaluated and reassessed through, but not limited to, the following measures:

Termly PIRA assessments from the Summer of Year 1.
Half termly whole phase RWI assessments and 'on the moment' assessments when required.
Analysis of the PIRA assessments by the Reading lead who then shares action points and priorities with class teachers.
Termly data meetings to review pupils’ individual progress and progress of the class.
Termly Accelerated Reader Star tests to identify pupils reading level and appropriate books to provide challenge; followed by ongoing Accelerated Reader quizzes every two weeks to ensure regular progress and monitoring. This is monitored by the Reading Lead and by class teachers.
Analysis of pupils reading age termly by class teachers.
Instructional planning created by accelerated reader to identify gaps in individual pupils or classes learning to inform future planning.
Ongoing assessment by the Phonic Lead in EYFS and KS1.
Early assessment of Reception pupils in the Autumn term for grouping followed by regularly reassessment across EYFS and KS1.
Termly Freshstart assessments for Early Readers in KS2.
Termly reading targets for pupils based on reading regularity.
Phonological awareness assessments (and if required, interventions) as soon as a pupil is identified as struggling in their phonic or reading progress.