Literacy is a fundamental life skill; it develops the children’s ability to communicate effectively - to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. All teachers have a responsibility to develop pupils’ competence in reading, writing, speaking and listening in their own subjects and to ensure that pupils become competent users of language, and can access the curriculum effectively and achieve their potential.

This narrative will outline how the teaching and learning of reading is conducted throughout Carville Primary School. Reading, along with writing, makes up literacy, one of the four specific areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

​The National Curriculum for English outlines a Programme of Study for Reading at Key Stage 1 and 2 which consists of two dimensions:

• word reading,
• comprehension (both listening and reading).

At Carville Primary School, we believe it is essential that the teaching of reading focuses on developing pupils’ competences in a range of dimensions.

In order for children to achieve the early learning goal for Reading at the end of Reception, children in EYFS will be taught to use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and to read them aloud accurately. They will also be taught to read some common irregular words. Applying these skills, children by the end of Reception will be able to read and understand simple sentences. Opportunities will also be provided so children can demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

For pupils at an early key stage 1 phase (Year 1), teaching will be focussed on establishing and developing phonic skills, vocabulary and a basic understanding of content meaning in a group environment. Pupils at a later key stage 1 stage (Year 2) will continue developing these skills whilst taking on more complex words, grammar and texts. Pupils should be increasingly encouraged to read independently at allocated times to help develop an enjoyment for reading.

At lower key stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) the emphasis is more on comprehension than word reading but pupils should increase understanding of different and more complex words. Greater independence should be given to this age group to allow the development of attitudes and individual understandings of what they read. Upper key stage 2 pupils (Years 5 and 6) will continue to develop their wider vocabulary and focus on diversifying their reading repertoire to multiple text types and styles. Alongside independent silent reading, group discussions should take place with suitable supervision so pupils can share opinions on what they have read.

Following the publication of the ‘EEF Improving Literacy in KS2’ guidance report (April 2017), teachers have been trained in delivering activities to develop language capability, fluency and reading comprehension strategies. Within classrooms, purposeful activities will include:

Language capability

• reading books aloud and discussing them;
• activities that extend pupils’ expressive and receptive vocabulary;
• collaborative learning activities where pupils can share their thought processes;
• structured questioning to develop reading comprehension;
• teachers modelling inference-making by thinking aloud;
• pupils articulating their ideas verbally before they start writing.

Fluency

This can be developed through:

• guided oral reading instruction—teachers model fluent reading of a text, then pupils read the same text aloud with appropriate feedback;
• repeated reading—pupils reread a short and meaningful passage a set number of times or until they reach a suitable level of fluency

Teachers model the reading comprehension strategies for prediction, questioning, clarifying, summarising, inference and activating prior knowledge during shared and guided reading sessions, whilst children have the opportunity to develop reading strategies and to discuss texts in detail during whole class reading sessions. Independent reading provides time for both assessment and 1-1 teaching.

Class sets of books have been purchased for teacher’s to use to plan their Literacy lessons. Books have been carefully chosen to support a range of writing opportunities, cross curricular links and appropriateness and challenge within a specific year group.

​​​​​​​​​​​​Floppy's Phonics

Floppy's Phonics Scheme (click to visit website) is the systematic approach used at Carville Primary School for teaching children to read using phonics. Daily Floppy's Phonics lessons  enable children to decode efficiently and expose them to ‘tricky words’ regularly to improve their retention of sight vocabulary. These daily lessons continue with Phonics International lessons (click to visit website) in KS2 to constantly reinforce phonic knowledge and use it as a tool for spelling.

​Guided Reading

A thirty-minute guided reading session takes place three times a week in school for KS2 children and a small group of higher ability children from Y2. Class teachers group children within their class by reading attainment and plan a carousel of differentiated reading activities for the children to access on a fortnightly programme. During each session, teachers will work with a group of children to analyse a text in detail, making sure each child can read each word and discussing meaning of the text with them.

Home/school reading

All children have reading books to take home with individual Home-School Reading Records. The books are initially taken from the Floppy's Phonics and Oxford Reading Tree schemes until the child is a fluent, confident, competent reader and is allowed free choice. Reading activities should be carried out every night.

The Oxford Reading Tree scheme is used as the core reading scheme. All staff support reading activities to ensure that children have more frequent opportunities to read with adults. Throughout the school, daily reading sessions (1.15pm-1.30pm) are used to target specific pupils. Each class has identified daily readers and staff ensure that these children are heard read 3/4 times a week. All other children should be heard read 1:1 once a week. In KS2, these children will be heard read 1:1 fortnightly as Guided Reading sessions will be on a two week rolling programme.

All pupils take home a levelled Floppy's Phonics book from school according to their ability. They also choose a 'reading for pleasure' book to take home. Children are encouraged to re-read this book regularly in order to practise sounds that are being learned in their phonics sessions/interventions

Parents are encouraged to hear their child read the book and then record how they have got on in their home-school reading record. Parents are expected to read with their child daily.

At Carville Primary School, we recognise the value of adults (both in school and at home) reading aloud to children, in order to improve their grasp of story language, enthuse them with a love of books and inspire them as writers whilst ensuring that by the end of their primary education all pupils are able to read fluently and with confidence. Staff read to the children daily in lessons and dedicated ‘story time’ where appropriate. In addition to this, children have the opportunity to choose a book to read for pleasure from book corners within their classroom, the school library and the Library Bus which visits school half termly. Pupils are encouraged to join their local public libraries and become enthused by reading.

Furthermore, school has purchased CGP reading comprehension booklets for children in Y5 and Y6 to complete as part of their weekly homework tasks.

Cross-curricular Literacy Opportunities

At Carville Primary School, we seek to take advantage of opportunities to make cross-curricular links. Children have access to a range of topic books to develop their wider knowledge of subject areas. We have a whole school library that the children visit fortnightly and are able to ‘check out’ books using the Junior Librarian system.

Teachers also plan for pupils to practise and apply the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired through reading lessons to other areas of the curriculum.

The Use of ICT

Children have access to ICT programs and apps that promote reading. These include: Teach your monster to read and Education City.

In addition to this, Accelerated Reader is used in KS2. Accelerated Reader is a computer-based program that monitors reading practice and progress. It helps teachers guide pupils to books that are on their individual reading level. Pupils take short quizzes after reading a book to check if they've understood it and their next book is chosen matched to their personal Zone of Proximal Development.

Assessment and evaluation

Continuous assessments of reading progress are made throughout the year. Summative Assessment is carried out at the end of each term and Key Stage through the use of Phonics Screening Check, SATs, optional NfER assessment papers and Teacher Assessment.

In addition to this, daily assessment occurs within a teacher’s marking and 1:1 reading with pupils. Our Reading Curricular targets ensure a continuity of progression throughout the school. Targets are produced at the start of the year for each child in KS1 and 2. Curricular targets are shared with parents and children. They are regularly reviewed by both pupils and teaching staff.

Inclusion

We aim to provide for all children so that they achieve as highly as they can in reading according to their individual abilities.

Special Educational Needs

Children who are identified as having Special Educational Needs in reading will be given support as identified on their IEPs. A variety of support materials are available from the SENDCO: Mr A Qualters and dyslexia programmes are delivered as appropriate.

Children who are having difficulty with literacy but do not come into the category of SEND may need to be given a differentiated literacy programme.

Gifted and Talented

​Children who are identified as more able in English should have work suited to their needs. Reading content should be appropriately challenging.

Equal Opportunities

In order to engage all children, cultural diversity, home languages, gender and religious beliefs are all celebrated. Our curriculum includes a wide range of texts and other resources which represent the diversity and backgrounds of all our children.

Monitoring and review

The standards of teaching and learning of reading are monitored and reviewed in the following ways:

• Lesson observations
• Professional Conversations
• Learning walks
• Reviews of Literacy provision, including Intervention and Support programmes
• Analysis of reading data following termly assessment weeks