Reading at Anston Brook
Intent
At Anston Brook Primary School we intend to give our learners the knowledge, skills and authentic experience to better understand the world around us, the opportunities it may provide, and the aspiration to contribute to and change the world around them.
In reading, the National Curriculum states that English has a pre-eminent place in education and society. Through reading, in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading enables pupils to both acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know.
We aim to ensure that children:
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
Phonics & Early Reading
-
Letters and Sounds daily discrete synthetic phonics lessons in EYFS & KS1
-
Daily individual reading to develop decoding skills
-
Phonic Bug decodable books to read at school and home - matching level in phonics
-
Repetition & consolidation of phonics learning during free-flow & independent activities
-
High quality books in EYFS continuous provision
-
Print rich environment, areas of learning clearly labelled for independence
-
Phonic and sight word assessments each half term
-
Children's progress in phonics is tracked and monitored each half term. Targeted additional support given.
-
Phonics workshop delivered to FS and Y1 parents
-
Phonic packs sent home as additional practice before the screening
Guided Reading
-
Learn to read - focus on decoding in FS & KS1
-
Learn to read - focus on reading for meaning/develop comprehension in FS2 to Y6
-
Phonic Bug decodable books to read at school and home in FS & KS1 - matching level in phonics
-
High quality books to engage KS2 readers
-
Guided reading session twice weekly in every class
-
Pre-read with TA to develop word reading & understanding of vocabulary
-
Read with T to develop retrieval, inference and understanding vocabulary
-
Independent activities during guided reading sessions to develop retrieval, inference and vocab
-
Key vocabulary on display and used throughout sessions
Reading for Pleasure
-
Book Weeks, visits from authors and illustrators
-
World Book Day
-
Story time in every classroom
-
High quality book corners in every classroom and around school
-
Reading hats worn by adults
-
High quality library with a carefully selected range of fiction and non-fiction books
-
Books chosen by children and taken home weekly
-
Reading stations - relevant books and key words available linked to foundation subjects
-
Home Reading records - comments from parents and staff
-
Book bags for every child in FS & KS1
-
'Look for a Book' - children can find books outdoors to read and re-hide for others to find
Implementation of Reading
Our reading curriculum road map shows all learners in school what they have already learned, what they will learn next and in the future. Our reading curriculum ensures children learn the skills and knowledge as well as embedding a passion and love for reading. We 'learn to read' and then 'read to learn'. We ensure reading is woven through all our curriculum areas and is developed at every opportunity.
Our road map in reading shows how the skills of phonics/word reading and comprehension progress through the age groups, in relation to the content domains.
Phonics is taught daily in EYFS and Key Stage 1 to enable children to learn the phonemes and alphabet code in order to blend sounds to read words. Children will learn to read common exception words or 'tricky words' and build up an age appropriate bank of vocabulary from their experiences of reading a range of stories. Phonic decodable books enable children to access reading at their phonic level in individual reading and guided reading sessions. Phonic books also go home for children to practice reading - we encourage children to read at least 3 times a week. Children can consolidate and practice reading skills through the print rich environments and key vocabulary in each area of learning. Adults constantly model and scaffold spoken language, new vocabulary, the application of phonics and the process of reading, encouraging children to copy, rehearse, repeat, practice and apply their skills and knowledge in order to become confident readers.
Guided Reading is taught in every year group. We use a carousel system to plan and deliver these sessions. Each group will read twice during a week. The first session is focused on the content domains relating to vocabulary, word reading, summarising and prediction. As children read we ensure children develop their fluency and understand the meaning of words and phrases. The second session develops the comprehension skills of retrieval and inference, enabling children to develop the skills of skimming and scanning to find words and pieces of information. High quality dialogue between the adults and children enable them to confidently talk about and discuss issues and themes to allow them to make inferences about the text and characters. Guided reading texts in Key Stage 2 are chosen specifically to help our children with the cultural capital issues that occur in their everyday lives.
Our school fosters a love of reading, ensuring children have every opportunity to learn the skills to read but then be able to have the opportunity to read for pleasure. Every class has a story time at the end of the day where stories can be listened to and shared. Every classroom has an inviting reading area where children can enjoy high quality texts either individually or with friends. Around the school, we have pop-up reading areas where children can sit back and relax and enjoy a book. An attractive library sits at the heart of our Key Stage 2 area and used to enable children through school to browse for books to aid learning. Children also take sharing books home which they chose from the library and exchange every week.
