Reading 

Intent 

At Shavington Primary, we encourage our children to develop a love of reading by exposing them to a variety of high-quality texts spanning many genres in both a reading a writing capacity. Reading fundamentals are implemented into the curriculum to give our children the best possible basis for developing skills throughout each school year and beyond. 

Whilst at Shavington, children are encouraged to explore texts from a wide range of genres to develop fundamental reading skills, and to experience the craft of different authors, looking at vocabulary, style and tone to match the purpose of writing. They will discuss similarities and differences of texts, highlight key themes, look for morals, comment on composition and writing style, whilst also having fun in fantasy lands, travelling around the world to experience stories from other cultures and learning about the wider world. There is a balance of both modern texts, and classic fiction to allow children to experience the difference between authors old and new. This in turn will allow children to explore their own writing interests further when reading for pleasure, and also begin to develop their own writing style. 

Our English curriculum aims to ensure that: 

● read easily, fluently and with good understanding 

● develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information 

● acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language 

● appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage 

Implementation 

At Shavington, we use the 'Pathways to Read' programme of study from Year 2 to Year 6 to deliver our reading sessions. In Ks1 we use ‘Floppy Phonics’ to deliver phonics teaching to children. This begins in nursery and then continues throughout ks1. This scheme is also designed to be able to support the children who need additional support into ks2, allowing focused intervention that meets the needs of the individual children.  

After the recent investment in the ‘Floppy’s Phonics’ scheme we have now stocked the EYFS/Key Stage 1 library with a range of books for each phonics phase. The Floppy’s Phonics programme teaches the letter/s-sound correspondences of the English alphabetic code explicitly and comprehensively for reading and spelling.  It includes the characters of Floppy the dog, Biff, Chip and Kipper and their family and friends, which engages children fully for the phonics teaching & learning, vocabulary enrichment and language comprehension. 

We use the Education Library service to provide a range of books for KS2, which are renewed on a termly basis. This allows for maximum exposure to a variety of genres and authors. Each classroom had a dedicated library area that allows children to choose their own literature and promotes a love of reading within the classroom. More recently, KS2 have been using the online application Bug club. This allows children to have an assigned reading level, and access books online in a variety of areas of interest. By using this, it allows the children to access an online library, and each book come with added ‘bug’ questions that children need to answer using a variety of comprehension skills. During remote learning, we have also used CGP reading guides with our children. This allows children to continue to practice their comprehension skills effectively, whilst reading a further variety of short extracts. 

At Shavington, we identify children who need support and provide quality intervention in the most effective and efficient way that we can. We run intervention reading groups, and recently invested in the programme ‘Nessy’. Most children on the SEND register have reading and comprehension as one of their targets.

Teachers typically plan and teach at least three 20-minute whole-class lessons using our Pathways to Read scheme, using quality text examples, which focus heavily on developing vocabulary and practising the key reading skills of inference; prediction; explaining; retrieval; summarising. We help each child maximise their potential by providing help and support where necessary, whilst striving to make children independent workers once we have helped to equip them with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need. 

Impact 

Our aim is for children to become fluent and confident readers by the end of Key Stage One. By the implementation of early systematic phonics, we aim to encourage children to develop their fluency and comprehension as they progress into Key Stage Two. To measure the impact of our phonics and reading schemes, we firstly measure attainment in phonics against the Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1. In reading, we (until recently following the Government decision to suspend KS1 statutory testing) used the statutory standardised testing at the end of Key Stage 1 and 2. These results were measured against the reading attainment of children nationally. We also use an in-house statutory testing scheme that allows teachers to make judgements of progress f children in each year group, allowing for targeted interventions, and a smooth transition between year groups. Above all, we are proud to offer children a broad and balanced variety of literature allowing them to fully immerse themselves in topics, fantasy lands, far away cultures and in real life situations. Our aim through reading is promote a love of reading, and an understanding of literature, in a range of different ways. 

Engaging Parents

In December we invited our KS1 parents to a phonics evening where we looked at early reading skills, and supporting our pupils with their early reading journey. We explained our phonics scheme, as well as looking at how to support their child's reading of the decodable books. 

We invited parents with children in Year 2-6 into school in January of this year to look at ways in which parents can support their children with their reading. In this session we looked at the importance of reading, and exposing children to a rich and wide vocabulary. We also gave parents an insight into how we are supporting their child in school with their reading, including interventions that we run to support our learners. We are looking to offer more sessions like this later in the year. 

Up-Coming Reading Events- Spring Term

• Education Library Book Bus- 15th February 2024 (Selected children to visit with class teacher to refresh class libraries). 
• Extreme Reader- February Half Term (More details to follow)
• World Book Day- 7th March 2024 'Read Your Way' (More details to follow).