Reading

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Subject: English Reading

Intent

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum at Arden Primary School. We aim to inspire a life-long love of books and reading which develops emotional, intellectual and cultural awareness so that all of our pupils can enjoy and participate fully in the world around them.

Our curriculum aims to develop, improve and extend our pupils’ ability in reading, therefore enabling them to enjoy reading for pleasure and engage in book talk; reading for information as well as helping them to build, develop and extend critical thinking skills across all subjects. 

Our priority is both the teaching of reading skills and the enjoyment of literature, enabling children to become confident, capable and ‘Ardent’ readers.

We aim for our pupils to acquire the knowledge and understanding for reading as set out by the Primary Curriculum for Key stages 1 and 2 in the following areas:

•  Word reading
• Comprehension (both reading and listening)

As children begin to read, we focus on decoding, primarily through phonics in addition to other strategies, e.g. whole word recognition, rhyme and context. As children build fluency, comprehension skills become our main area of focus with the development of retrieval, inference, visualisation, questioning, meaning repair, prediction and vocabulary.

We believe that high-quality literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) and drama are the keys to motivating our children to read and instilling a love of literature.

Implementation

Reading in EYFS

In Nursery and Reception classes, children follow a programme of daily phonics sessions to develop their word decoding and recognition skills. We use Letters and Sounds, Jolly Phonics and as well as rhyme, songs, stories and drama to build basic reading skills. Below are the reading stages children in Early Years at Arden:

Emerging stage:

· Children understand print has a purpose.

· Move from pretend reading to reading predictable books.

· Begin to build an array of favourite stories.

Beginning Stage:

· Hear and say initial sounds in words.

· segment and blend simple words using their phase 2 and phase 3 phonics knowledge.

· Use their phonics knowledge to decode regular words and read phase 2 and phase 3 common irregular words.

Fluent Stage:

· Children are automatic, fluent readers.

· They read with fluency, speed and comprehend what they have read.

· Children begin to read with some expression.

To complement and support phonics teaching, children’s understanding and fluency is developed through the use of high- quality literature. Through this, children are taught active reading skills of retrieval, inference, meaning repair, prediction, vocabulary and questioning using our whole school Read Aloud: Think Aloud approach and story maps. They begin to answer questions about what they have read using the skills they have been taught.

Reading in KS1

Year 1

In Year 1, children revise and consolidate phonic phases 3 and 4 and move through phase 5 in readiness for the Year 1 phonics screening check. Children then continue their reading journey from EYES developing fluency, speed and expression. Reading skills sessions are taught daily and follow the Read Aloud: Think Aloud principles begun in EYES and all children are heard read daily from phonic based books and sent home daily for children to share with parents. To build their knowledge of stories children also enjoy listening to shared stories in class, book talk and access online reading practice at home through myON.

Year 2

In Year 2, children continue to build their phonic knowledge through daily phonics practice; revising phases 3, 4 and 5 and teaching phase 6 in preparation for Year 3 phonics. 

To complement phonics teaching, children engage in daily reading skills lesson where they continue to develop their Read Aloud: Think Aloud skills from EYES and Year 1.

To further develop fluency, speed, expression and understanding, children are heard read everyday during 1:1reading sessions. They also enjoy listening to shared stories in class, book talk and access online reading practice at home through myON.

Reading in KS2

In lower KS2 children follow a programme of:

· Daily reading skills lessons which focus on continuing to develop fluency and understanding using Read Aloud: Think Aloud strategies to further build retrieval, inference, prediction, questioning and visualisation skills as well as recognising and repairing meaning breakdown. Children are exposed to a range of quality texts to support, strengthen and challenge their reading skills. They begin to examine the use of figurative language, structure, authorial voice and intent. 

. Where appropriate, phonics lessons to support and consolidate decoding and fluency.

 . All children are heard read a minimum of once a week during ERIC 1:1 reading time.

.  From our year group libraries, all children choose an Accelerated Reader book which corresponds to their reading age. Pupils’ progress in reading is monitored through the system through quizzes and half termly tests. Children also access reading at home through the online reading platform myON.  

In upper KS2 children follow a programme of:

· Daily reading skills lessons which focus on continuing to develop fluency and understanding using Read Aloud: Think Aloud strategies to refine and extend retrieval, inference, prediction, questioning and visualisation skills as well as recognising and repairing meaning breakdown. Children are exposed to a range of quality texts to support, strengthen and challenge their reading skills and examine the use of figurative language, structure, authorial voice and intent in more detail.

. Where appropriate, phonics lessons to support and consolidate decoding and fluency.

. All children are heard read a minimum of once a week during ERIC 1:1 reading time.

. From our year group libraries, all children choose an Accelerated Reader book which corresponds to their reading age. Pupils’ progress in reading is monitored through the system through quizzes and half termly tests.  Children also access reading at home through the online reading platform myON. 

At Arden, all children’s learning is developed and supported by class reads, drop and read sessions, visits from authors and workshops. We visual literacy lessons and drama to enhance lessons. We believe that children learn best through an integrated curriculum and our reading is linked to our year group topics.

Intended Impact  

By the end of key stage 2, children will have acquired the skills necessary to read fluently; demonstrate a confident understanding of what they have read across a range of subjects, including digital reading platforms such as emails, texts, Tweets and other online platforms so that they are equipped for the ‘reading world’ of the future.

Pupils will have experienced a rich, broad, balanced and inspiring reading curriculum. We aim to have instilled a love of reading which will inspire and ignite imaginations and a desire to read for enjoyment. They will be able to talk confidently with their peers and other adults about books from a wide variety of authors they have enjoyed reading. As a result of our Read Aloud: Think Aloud approach, children will demonstrate an ability to think critically, ask questions and challenge what they have read- in readiness for their transition to secondary school.   

The % of pupils working at age related expectations (ARE) within each year group will be at least, or close to, the national average. The % of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least, or close to being, in line with the national average. We aim to ensure that every Arden pupil will reach their full reading potential irrespective of socio-economic backgrounds, ability race or gender.