Reading is at the core of our curriculum and school culture, with staff having a shared understanding of the knowledge and skills needed to build towards end points in each year and phase. National Curriculum objectives are creatively and systematically delivered in order to prepare learners for their next steps, to close any gaps and target the highest number of children attaining expected standard or higher.
Regular assessments inform the teaching of phonics, comprehension and fluency to ensure all our children make good progress.
Parents as Partners
Here at Appletree we recognise that parents are the first and ongoing educators of their own children. We value the vital role that parents play in supporting their children’s learning and help them to actively participate in school activities. These effective partnerships enable children to flourish.
Equity and Excellence
We firmly believe that personal and social circumstances should not be an obstacle to achieving educational potential. Our carefully structured, skills based curriculum supports and engages all children so as to narrow the gap between the most and least advantaged learners, while improving outcomes for all.
The Appletree Reading Journey
There are several components to the way we teach reading at Appletree.
Daily phonics: Reception, Y1 and Y2
In Reception and Key Stage 1 we use the Read Write Inc phonics programme. This provides a structured and systematic approach and is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers. Children have daily phonics lessons and are encouraged to practise skills taught throughout the school day. To ensure that the best progress is made, children are assessed regularly. As children complete the programme and know most of the common grapheme-phoneme correspondences, phonics is taught through spelling patterns taken from the 2014 National Curriculum English Appendix 1 spelling document.
Guided Reading: Reception-Y4
In Key Stage 1 , children are taught reading skills in small group reading sessions. In these sessions there is a focus upon decoding, improving fluency and understanding. In Key Stage 2, the children are taught specific reading skills. These skills include inference, prediction and interpretation.
Daily Class Story: Reception-Yr 4
Each day, children across the school enjoy a class story. This important part of the school day fosters a love of reading through: exploring new vocabulary, questioning and discussion, making connections to the children’s own lives and experiences, modelling proficient reading skills and exploring story structures.
Class Reading Spine Books
In each year group we have developed a reading spine of classic and essential reads. The aim is for every child to experience the pleasure and challenge of great literature. These ‘must have’ stories, build children’s language and create shared and deeply imaged common memorable experiences.
Reading for Pleasure: Nursery-Yr4
Our reading for pleasure pedagogy encompasses: reading aloud, informal book talk and recommendations, social reading environments and independent reading time. Children choose books based on their interest and have access to a wide variety of quality reading books both fiction and non-fiction.
Books to Share: Nursery- Yr 4
Each week, children receive a book to share at home with their parents and carers. Together, through these texts, they can share adventures and new experiences. It allows adults to ask questions, discuss new and interesting vocabulary, talk about what has happened and make predictions.
Home School Reading Books: Reception-Yr4
Our core reading scheme in Reception and Key Stage 1 is made up of fully decodable Read Write Inc. Phonics Book Bag Books and eBooks.
These synthetic reading scheme demonstrates a clear phonetic progression, introducing a few letters at a time and ensuring children have a thorough and secure understanding of these before moving on. As children move through Key Stage 1 they continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent. To improve fluency and comprehension we encourage children to read the same book several times at home. Books are colour banded throughout the school to provide a breadth of reading which engages the children across their school reading journey. When children have completed the phonics programme they then move onto the school reading scheme. Here banded books and ‘real’ books are used to widen children’s reading experiences and to promote reading for pleasure.
The Top Ten Benefits of Reading for Children
Their vocabulary is larger and more extensive.
They perform better academically.
Their imagination can run wild.
Their creativity skills develop.
They develop empathy.
They gain a deeper understanding of their world.
Their concentration levels improve.
The parent and child bond improves.
Their cognitive development is supported.
Their social skills and interaction improve.
Through the teaching of systematic phonics and reading enquiry, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident readers by the end of Key Stage 1. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school.
How we measure the impact:
In Reception and Year 1: Read Write Inc. half termly checks ensure that pupils are placed within the correct teaching group and that progress is being made.
In Year 1 children sit the National Phonics Screening Test. Those children who do not meet the national expected standard re-sit the test in Year 2.
In Year 2 attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage One
In Years 1-4 Salford Reading Assessments are carried out at the end of each term.
As a Year 4 reader, transitioning into middle 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.