Reading

Intent

At Keevil, our intent in reading is to enable children to:

• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas
• Become competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Implementation

All children read in school within lessons and are encouraged to read at home.  To develop a love of reading, stories are shared within classes on a regular basis.  Books are selected by the teachers and English Subject Leaders to ensure they are high quality and are complemented by other curriculum areas.  These books are progressive and are mapped to ensure suitable coverage.

Children begin their journey as developing readers by following the Little Wandle systematic synthetic phonics programme in YR and Y1.  This teaches them the relationships between letters and sounds which is the basis for all reading and writing through daily phonics sessions and group reading three times a week. Please see our Phonics page for more information.

Whole class reading sessions are used to develop children’s skills as readers from Y1 to Y6. During these sessions children are exposed to age related texts and reading is explicitly taught. We are developing a focus on vocabulary to ensure the children are exposed to a wide variety of words to increase their own understanding and breadth of vocabulary. The intention is that by the Summer term 2025 all classes will be using a consistent approach to developing the children’s vocabulary skills.

Teachers have high expectations through teaching to the appropriate yearly objectives and set work appropriate to the needs of the children in their class. The structure of the lessons is carefully considered, including opportunities for returning to, and expanding on prior knowledge, teaching, modelling and discussion to aid understanding and support children in their independent tasks.

Teachers use our Keevil Steps system to assess children’s achievements in reading and measure their progress - see documents below for more details about this system.  Standardised tests such as SATS and NFER are also used to help determine children’s knowledge and understanding, and identify gaps in their learning.  Teachers can then plan lessons and input to ensure that children achieve age-related expectations.  Other specific diagnostic tests are used to plan interventions and support for children who are not meeting age-related expectations.  Individual or small group programmes are used to develop decoding and comprehension skills, and enable children to keep up and catch up.

In EYFS and KS1 children have access to  books to take home to consolidate their reading skills outside of school.  These are phonetically decodable books that are carefully matched to the progression in our phonics scheme.  They also take home a reading for pleasure book to enjoy with their family, to grow their overall love of books and reading.

In KS2 a range of age-appropriate banded books are available for children who need to consolidate and improve their reading skills.  Children also have access to books from their class book corners, which contain a range and variety of texts.  Children are encouraged to choose books to read that are adventurous and challenging, as well as enjoyable.

Different reward systems and incentives are used in each class to encourage children to read at home regularly.  Parents/carers are encouraged to record this in children’s Home-School Contact Books.

Teachers create a positive reading culture in school, where it is promoted, enjoyed and considered ‘a pleasure’ for all pupils.

• Promotion of reading through teachers reading out loud regularly to their class
• Pupils in EYFS and KS1 to have daily phonics sessions, following Little Wandle.
• Whole Class or Guided Reading sessions in all classes.
• Pupils are being encouraged to be adventurous with vocabulary choices.
• Pupils to acquire strategies to enable them to become independent learners in English (eg.  how to tackle unfamiliar words when reading).
• Pupils to discuss and to present their ideas to each other by talking, being able to elaborate and explain themselves clearly, make presentations and participate in debates.
• Working Walls in all classes displaying resources and prompts that aid pupils learning and work.
• Vocabulary promoted through displays in class covering all curriculum areas, enhancing and encouraging a wider use of vocabulary.
• Vocabulary mats to be used where needed and thesauruses and dictionaries which are easily accessible for pupils to use.
• Teaching a range of genres across the school (progressing in difficulty) both in English and other curriculum areas; resulting in pupils being exposed to, and knowledgeable about, literary styles, authors and genres.
• They can express preferences and give opinions, supported by evidence, about different texts.
• Reading and writing events (throughout the year) to encourage and promote enjoyment and opportunities to develop lifelong learning.

Impact

As we believe that reading is key to all learning, the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the result of statutory assessments. Children have the opportunity to enter the wide and varied magical worlds that reading opens up to them. As they develop their own interest in books, a deep love of literature across a range of genres cultures and styles is enhanced.

Through the teaching of systematic phonics and reading enquiry, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident readers who can apply their knowledge and experience to a range of texts through the Key Stage 2 curriculum.

As a Year 6 reader, transitioning into secondary school, we aspire that children are fluent, confident and able readers, who can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as use their reading skills to unlock learning and all areas of the curriculum.

In addition to this:

• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support reading at home, and contribute regularly to home-school records.
• The % of pupils working at age related expectations and above age related expectations within each year group will be at least in line with national averages and will match the ambitious targets of individual children.
• There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged)