Reading

Intent

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. In education, the term "Matthew effect" describes a phenomenon observed in research on how new readers acquire the skills to read: early success in acquiring reading skills usually leads to later successes in reading as the learner grows, while failing to learn to read before the third or fourth year of schooling may be indicative of lifelong problems in learning new skills.

This is because children who fall behind in reading read less, increasing the gap between them and their peers. Later, when students need to "read to learn" (where before they were learning to read), their reading difficulty creates difficulty in most other subjects. In this way they fall further and further behind in school. According to the Department for Education, Waltham Forest’s Key Stage 2 or SAT results (for pupils aged 7 to 11) in the academic year 2019, 72% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, whilst 15% reached a higher standard. Both are above the England average (65% and 11%), as well as the London average (71% and 14%).

About one in four residents aged three and over (26 per cent) do not speak English as their main language compared to 8 per cent nationally (2011 Census). The majority (78 per cent), however, can speak English well or very well. About 6 per cent of the borough's residents (14,250 people) have said that they do not speak English well or at all.

At Salisbury Manor Primary, we want our children to:

§  Become fluent, confident and expressive readers who have both the skill and the will to read effectively

§  Read with enjoyment across a range of genres

§  Read for pleasure as well as for information

§  Read and respond to a wide range of different types of literature

§  Understand the layout and how to use different genres and text types

§  Understand and apply their knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns and use this to decode words with accuracy

§  Build their bank of sight words to enable fluent reading

§  Have an interest in words and their meanings, developing a rich and varied vocabulary

§  Understand and respond to literature drawn from a range of cultures and literary heritage.

 

Our school understands the challenge that exists between teaching children to be fluent readers whilst ensuring that we support them to develop a life-long love of reading. To this end, we have worked hard to ensure that our reading scheme is congruent with the phonic phases and the sequence of teaching. Our reading curriculum is designed to achieve a balance between develop the Instructional Agenda (the skill) and the Pleasure Agenda (the will). This policy intends to promote a love of reading for all pupils whilst creating life-long readers who have the skills to access all areas of the curriculum with independence and confidence so that they go on to be successful in Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond.

Our reading curriculum is also planned in a way which promotes the cultural capital of all our children. We enhance our curriculum, especially for the most disadvantaged, by providing access to a diverse range of texts including those which promote different socio-economic backgrounds, disabilities, religions and cultures, and periods of history.

Implementation

Reading at Salisbury Manor Primary is taught systematically. Some teaching strategies  are generic across the whole school, whilst others are specific to key stages. Implementation is by the class teacher and is supported by classroom Learning Practitioners.

Phonics from the start

What happens before formal phonics is taught? In Nursery we immerse children in activities providing opportunities to tune into sounds.

There are six aspects taught:

1. Environmental Sounds

2. Instrumental Sounds

3. Body Percussion

4. Rhythm and Rhyme

5. Alliteration 

6. Voice Sounds 

All the aspects are taught through group times and total immersion in a rich language environment. We aim to do this by providing a totally immersive nursery experience with lots of rhymes, singing time, rhyming stories, clapping rhythms, musical instruments taught through play at every opportunity.  Informal ways to explore letters: e.g. sand moulds, sounds of the week, phonics awareness through modelling writing, or sounding out words. 

We also use short discrete group times to model a variety of activities with all 6 aspects taught during the week and use carefully chosen books every day to over learn rhyming words and voice sounds. We encourage children to join in, especially with the repetitive parts to build confidence and learn. 

During the Spring Term pupils in Nursery will access more formal teaching of phonics through the delivery of the RWI Nursery programme.

Moving on with Phonics

In the Early Years, pupils will receive more formal lessons taught using the Read, Write, Inc Synthetic Phonic Programme. All our staff are highly trained and receive regular coaching to deliver this. It is taught daily, systematically both to whole class at the correct phonological stage and to discrete groups. 

It is important that the teaching of reading is matched to the teaching of phonics. As such, all children must have a home RWInc. reading book that matches the sounds they have learnt or are learning in their phonics lessons. Families are encouraged to read daily at home and record in their online reading diaries at least 5 times per week.

Year Group	Term	Phonics Phase
N	End of Autumn	Aspect 1 – 6 Tuning into Sounds
	End of Spring	Aspect 1 – 6 and RWI Nursery Programme
	End of Summer	RWI Nursery Programme
R	End of Autumn	Red Ditties
	End of Spring	Set 1 Green
	End of Summer	Set 2 Purple
1	End of Autumn	Set 3 Pink
	End of Spring	Set 4 Orange
	End of Summer	Set 5 Yellow

 

Reception or when ready in Nursery:

• Children will enter Reception having been immersed in opportunities to tune in to sounds.

• At the end of Autumn term, most children will be able to read CVC words and sight words by speed and labels. 

• At the end of Spring term, most children will be able to read the Set 1 Green sounds and words and irregular words, labels and captions. They will be beginning to read Set 2 Purple sounds and words. 

• At the end of the Summer Term, most children will be able to read the sentences with Set 2 Purple sounds and words and decode regular words. Some will be able to decode regular words of more than one syllable.

Year 1 or when ready in Early Years:

• All children should enter year 1 with knowledge of some of the Set 2 Purple sounds and words.

• At the end of the Autumn Term, most children will be secure at Set 2 Orange and be ready to start Set 3 Yellow.

• At the end of the Spring Term, most children will have completed Set 4 Orange.

 • At the end of the Summer Term, most children will be secure at Set 5 Yellow and will be beginning to look at spelling patterns.

Year 2 or when ready:

• A Year 2 child at ARE will have completed RWI Sets 1 to 3 prior to starting.

• Year 2 pupils will continue to receive daily phonics teaching in groups based on phonics assessments. Most children who enter Year 2 should be reading a book on the Accelerated Reader Programme .  

• The emphasis now moves onto grammar, punctuation and spelling ready for the GPS SATs assessment.

• Those children who are falling behind the expected standard will continue to receive targeted phonics intervention in order to bridge the gap.

Strategies and Aims for Early Years and Key Stage 1:

• A commitment to linking reading with writing

• Shared Reading, using a big book or text on the interactive whiteboard, with small groups or the whole class

• Guided Reading of the same text in small groups, including teaching a range of reading strategies and comprehension

• Oxford Owl online reading platform

• Daily phonics lessons using Read, Write Inc

• Phonics intervention groups lead by skilled teaching assistants in each class where needed for the bottom 20% readers 

• Reading of texts linked to topic work

• Daily ‘Class Reader’ in which the class teacher reads stories to the class to promote a love of reading and model fluency

• Library visits, including the class and school library 

• Attractive reading areas around school

• Books promoted around school   

• World Book Day involving local authors, booksellers, poets, storytellers and a range of book related activities

• Extra activities to raise the profile of reading, linked to different themes.

Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2 children learn to become fluent readers with increasingly growing comprehension skills. Children who are in a learning gap are given significant support through daily RWInc or Fresh Start interventions that are targeted to their ability and gaps.

Key Stage 2 Reading Skills

These sessions follow a structured weekly cycle. Teachers select texts that will immerse the pupils in their next genre for writing 2 weeks prior to starting. This will ensure a range of text types are covered and will strengthen the link between our approach of Reading as a Writer and Writing as a Reader.

The Sequence:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Assessment of Reading:

Formative and summative assessments are used to inform the planning and teaching of reading. We use weekly reading comprehensions, Year 2 and 6 SATs and termly PIRA assessments from Years 1 – 6. These are analysed using MARK online and Shine Interventions are used for pupils identified as a result of this analysis. Children complete half-termly STAR Reader Tests to provide an accurate picture of their ZPD (zone of proximal development) and reading age.

The Pleasure Agenda:

All pupils are read to by an enabling adult on a daily basis during ‘Class Reader’ time. This time is protected as we believe it is vital in developing a love of reading and the will to read independently and by choice. In these daily sessions, staff read aloud books at a higher level than the ability of the pupils to the whole class. They read with passion and excellent fluency modelling what makes a good reader. Staff select books that promote cultural capital and engage the interests of the pupils they teach.

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 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 skills, 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 and into Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond.

 

A Year 6 reader, transitioning into secondary school, will be a 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 across all areas of the curriculum.