Reading

Reading Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Intent

At Eccleston St Mary’s CE Primary School our aim is for every child to become a fluent reader in order for them to reach age related expectations or, indeed, to exceed these expectations. We also recognise that Reading is a life-skill and crucial for children’s continuing development both academically and in the wider world. In addition, we encourage children to discover the pleasure of reading and hope that they will learn the joy that can be experienced through reading.

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” J.K Rowling

Our curriculum is designed around the needs of the pupils in our school and there are a variety of approaches to enable all pupils to make good progress.


The aims of teaching reading in our school are to develop pupils who:

  • show high levels of achievement and exhibit very positive attitudes towards reading;

  • participate in the teaching of phonics knowledge, skills and understanding in a systematic and enjoyable way;

  • rapidly acquire a secure knowledge of letters and sounds and make sustained progress in learning to read fluently;

  •  read easily and fluently with good understanding across both fiction and non-fiction;

  •  acquire a wide vocabulary;

  •  develop their reading in all subjects to support their acquisition of knowledge;

  •  develop a love of reading;

  •  read for pleasure both at home and school on a regular basis;

  •  through their reading, develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually;

  •  develop good comprehension drawing from their linguistic knowledge.

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers
All children will have Quality First Teaching. Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of Pupil Premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum, dependent upon their needs. In addition, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

 

Implementation

Our school follows the DfE validated Monster Phonics programme from EYFS to Year 2. Phonics is timetabled daily and lasts for 20 - 30 minutes each day.

All staff are trained to deliver high quality phonics sessions.

When children first become readers, they have access to our range of phonetically-decodable Monster Phonics reading books. Pupils take home books that are carefully matched to their learning in phonics so they can practise the skills they have been learning in school; revisiting the same sounds at home improves progress, supports memory and aids fluency and confidence.

Guided reading occurs daily throughout school. In EYFS and Key Stage 1, guided reading is delivered through teacher-led, small group activities.

Children in KS2 take part in whole-class guided reading sessions, where children continue to develop their reading strategies and skills through planned units, using high quality, whole books adapted from the Literacy Tree’s ‘Literary Leaves’. This is supplemented with reading and exploring shorter texts and extracts adapted from the Ashley Booth curriculum.  

Children in KS2 have access to non-decodable, banded home reading books to support their continuing progress in fluency and comprehension.

Each classroom has an inviting reading area stocked with a wide selection of engaging fiction and non-fiction books, magazines and newspapers to suit all abilities and interests. Children have free choice of these books, ensuring that reading for pleasure is accessible for all children.

We have a whole school library that children visit weekly to choose a ‘Reading for Pleasure’ book to take home alongside their phonics or banded reading book.

We encourage a love of reading and class texts are carefully selected to excite and engage children. Teachers read to their class daily; this reading time is relaxed, enjoyable and focused purely on reading for pleasure.

We believe in offering a wide variety of opportunities to our pupils and therefore endeavour to engage with a variety of reading activities throughout the year including book clubs, author visits and World Book Day.

 

Impact

Reading in our school is progressive and planned to meet the needs of all children. Assessments are carried out regularly to ensure children are accessing books of the right level and are being challenged in their reading. At the same time, we provide books to ensure that children read for pleasure and learn to love reading. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making expected or more than expected progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

  • Assessment for Learning;

  • Phonics screening results;

  • Summative assessments each term;

  • End of Key stage SATs results.

By the time children leave Eccleston St. Mary’s CE Primary School, they are competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry, and participate in discussions about books, including evaluating an author’s use of language and the impact this can have on the reader. They can also read books to enhance their knowledge and understanding of all subjects on the curriculum, and communicate their research to a wider audience.


Above all, we hope, quite simply, that all children leaving Eccleston St. Mary’s CE Primary School will do so having acquired a lifelong love of books and reading.