INTENT

At Eythorne Elvington, we believe that reading is an essential life skill and we are committed to and passionate about enabling our children to become lifelong readers. At the heart of our strategy is our drive to foster a love of reading, enriching children’s learning through carefully designed teaching activities that utilise imaginative stories and thought-provoking texts.

Reading is a skill that enables children to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and lays the foundations for success in future aspirations. We recognise the importance of taking a consistent whole school approach to the teaching of reading in order to close any gaps and to target the highest possible number of children attaining the expected standard or higher.

We have high expectations of all children and we encourage children to be ambitious and confident in their reading.

IMPLEMENTATION

Phonics…

• The effective systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily through the Little Wandle programme to all pupils in Foundation Stage, Year 1 and those in Year 2 who have not passed the Phonics Screen Check in Year 1.
• The Little Wandle approach is also used in the teaching of spelling in Year 2 to effectively embed strategies for the learning of new sounds and ease the transition into Key Stage 2 approaches.
• Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is based on the original Letters and Sounds, but has been extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme meeting all the expectations of the National Curriculum, the Ofsted Deep Dive into reading and preparing your child to go beyond the expectations of the Phonics Screening Check.
• Phonics is delivered in a mixed ability whole-class format, which supports the application across subjects, embedding the process in a rich literacy environment for early readers.
• Daily Keep-Ups are planned for those children who are working below expected levels as soon as needs are identified.
• Rapid Catch-Ups are planned for those children who are working below expected levels in Year 2 or above. This programme can take up to 26 weeks to complete, depending on the child’s starting point.
• Little Wandle Spelling follows the familiar structure of Little Wandle phonics lessons, supporting children to make links to their phonics learning. Little Wandle Spelling teaches children to consider etymology, morphology and grammar when spelling new words. The programme provides full coverage of National Curriculum spelling requirements.

Reading after phonics…

• Once children are reading confidently, typically at the end of Year 2, they move on to accessing the Accelerated Reader (AR) programme, which ensures that all texts independently read are accurately matched to pupil ability, ensuring progression and challenge for all children in accordance with their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) score.
• All children from the end of Year 2 and above complete an initial star reading test to identify their Accelerated Reader ZPD score. Star reading tests are carried out four times within an academic year.
• All staff, in collaboration with the English leader, use Accelerated Reader reports generated by the star reading assessment to identify specific areas of need so that targeted support can be given.
• Books that fall into a child’s ZPD range are selected by children from our expanding library. Teachers then challenge children by regularly recommending books with progressively higher ZPD scores.
• All children from Year 3-Year 6 take part in five whole class reading lessons per week to teach pupils a variety of comprehension skills through a RIC (retrieve-interpret-choice) approach. All teachers use these sessions to introduce pupils to a range of genres and to teach a range of techniques which enable children to comprehend the meaning of what they read. More complex questions are evaluated between wider groups and teachers model how to refine answers to a high standard.
• Each week, all pupils will also complete a mixed RIC session, which enables teachers to elicit the needs of children individually and identify areas for future development.
• All classrooms have their own class reading areas with topic themed books, and quality texts are continually purchased to further enhance and broaden pupils’ reading experience.

IMPACT

We believe that reading is the key to all learning and are dedicated to ensuring all pupils succeed in becoming confident readers. Through our consistent approach to the teaching of phonics and dedicated staff, where children are encouraged to always persevere, children make good progress from their starting points.  Most of our pupils are ready for the next stage in their education as they move from Reception, Key Stage 1 and into Key stage 2.  Children’s developing confidence in their reading skills allows them to be ambitious for themselves and strive to achieve success in both their reading and writing as they work through the phases.  Key Stage 2 pupils promote a love of reading and show empathy to our younger children by enjoying books and stories together.

Our reading curriculum is evaluated through:

• Analysis of phonics lessons

• Analysis of phonics assessments

• Analysis of whole-class reading lessons

• Analysis of comprehension questions

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. We aim for pupils to relate their reading experiences to their own personal development, developing an empathy for characters and making links to their own behaviours.

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.

• The gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils will be minimal (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged).