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Reading

Intent

It is our intent that reading inspires, engages and challenges pupils and we aim to develop key skills to enable all children to become fluent and confident readers. We will support and encourage all children to decode, comprehend and enjoy reading regardless of starting points and strive to enable good progress through high quality teaching and learning. Reading is an essential life skill and at Brookwood Primary School we want our children to leave with a passion for reading. We aim to promote a love of reading across all ages by allowing children to access high quality texts across the curriculum, encounter rich & varied vocabulary and develop their comprehension skills. We want reading to develop as a transferrable skill which will enable pupils to become inquisitive, improve their spoken and written literacy skills and become lifelong learners.

Implementation

Reading in the Early Years:

We begin the teaching of systematic phonics as soon as the children begin school in EYFS. At Brookwood we use Bug Club as the single approach to teaching phonics. Children’s phonics knowledge is assessed at the end of every phase and children are then put into smaller groups if appropriate to enable them to progress at the correct level. We have a keep up, don’t catch up approach to reading and any child who struggles to make progress will be given 1:1 reading daily to help them to overcome their issues and make accelerated progress. This provision continues throughout Key Stage 1, ensuring every child can learn to read. Learning to decode fluently and accurately allows children to become confident readers and enables learners to access all the enjoyment and excitement books can bring. In addition to the direct and systematic teaching of word-reading knowledge and skills, children listen to books and stories designed to develop their comprehension skills, make links between books, and develop their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. 

Reading at Key Stage One:

In Years one and two, there are daily guided reading sessions. At this stage, the children progress with their word-reading skills – both phonic decoding skills and the quick recognition of ‘common exception words’ (tricky words) to enhance levels of fluency, expression and reading stamina. In Years one and two, learners are supported to develop key comprehension skills which include predicting, understanding vocabulary choices, retrieving information, summarising, making inferences and using evidence from the text to justify their responses through the use of VIPERS.  Here the children read age related texts and answer a range of formal comprehension questions to improve their confidence and develop a love of reading.

Reading at Key Stage Two:

Reading in Key Stage Two continues to develop decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. Developing key reading skills through high-quality teaching is the priority for our children. In addition, studying whole texts in lessons – Novel Study - develops children’s love of reading by giving them the opportunity to read and listen to texts and authors they might not have chosen to read for themselves, also providing opportunities to encounter a wide variety of genres. We have daily guided reading comprehension sessions to ensure that children read age-related texts and answer comprehension-style questions using VIPERS. These whole class or group reading comprehension sessions are used as a powerful tool to allow all children to make progress in reading and provide regular and supportive opportunities for children to encounter engaging texts that will resonate with their interests and capture their imagination. 

Individual Reading

As children enter school, we assign them to a specific level of book based on their word reading skills and their ability to understand and explain what they are reading.

In Reception, the initial approach to reading is one which aims to promote reading for pleasure. Therefore, children are sent home with a reading book that promotes discussion through the use of pictures. From Autumn 2, once they have had the initial phonics input, they are sent home with decodable books, enabling them to access what they are reading. When these children begin to bring books home, these will be tailored to their specific phonics level as assessed by the class teacher. The reading books taken home in Reception and and at the start of Year one are ones directly linked to the Bug Club phonics scheme. Reading books will be changed on a weekly basis. Once children reach a level beyond the Bug Club scheme, they will move onto the whole school reading books that can be chosen in the library.

When the children complete the Bug Club programme, they will move onto the Accelerated Reader programme. At this point, they will be assessed using the Star Reading assessment from Accelerated Reader to identify their reading age. Accelerated Reader is a computer program that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice. Children pick a book at their own level, monitored through the Star Reading assessments and Accelerated Reader program, and read it at their own pace. When finished, children take a short quiz on the computer - passing the quiz is an indication that they have understood what has been read. Accelerated Reader gives both children and teachers feedback based on the quiz results, which the teacher then uses to help the child set targets for their reading, build a picture of their progress and support children with their book choices.

Story Time At Brookwood 

We recognise that story time is an integral part of our day. Story time broadens horizons and also vocabulary and allows children to share their experiences. It allows for further embedding of the curriculum area for the term by giving an alternative viewpoint or comparison. Each class enjoys story time before the end of the day.

Subject Documents Date  
Reading Information for Parents 14th Mar 2024 Download
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