Reading

INTENT:     The vision for Reading at Lakeside

At Lakeside we have a strong commitment and passion for reading, we want ALL of our children to share our love of reading. Reading for pleasure is consciously choosing to read (Teresa Cremin). Through our Read, to Achieve, to Succeed initiative we aim to instill the value of becoming passionate life-long readers. Reading forms the foundation of our approach to a curriculum that will develop 'PROUD learners with life long skills' as we recognise reading is the key to success. Our children will become confident readers by developing their fluency to show a greater understanding of words, phrases and overall texts of different genres. Additionally, they will be able to deduce, infer and critically evaluate the use of language in a wide range of texts. These skills will be developed by exposing the children to a breadth of vocabulary rich texts that build background knowledge and also form an awareness of the importance and significance of reading to daily life and for the future. We are committed to ensure no child leaves Lakeside without having the skills to read.

Curriculum Design, Coverage & Progression

Reading is a key element of our whole school 'PROUD learners' approach, therefore highlighting the importance of reading throughout all of the subject areas, for all of our children. Our reading curriculum builds on developing pupils' reading skills throughout their time at Lakeside. Phonics is taught the Harmony Trust Phonics Framework, which is aligned to Letters and Sounds.  We focus on Early Literacy to ensure children can understand simple sentences, talk with others about what they have read, and phonics in EYFS ensuring children are secure in the foundations for reading. In KS1 we continue to build on phonic knowledge, focusing on deepening their skills to independently blend and segment words into sentences. We develop a broader understanding of texts through a shared reading approach which ensures reading strategies are modelled through the use of challenging texts with an emphasis on comprehension and oracy activities, supporting vocabulary knowledge and fluency. In KS2 we have discrete reading comprehension lessons following a consistent reading structure, focusing on developing background knowl  edge, discrete reading skills and developing fluency in reading.  These skills are reinforced through our writing structure too. If required, we continue to provide phonics intervention in KS2 to eliminate any gaps in phonics knowledge that may be acting as a barrier to reading development. We also continue to use strategies such as speed reading and 60 second reads to further assist the development of decoding and fluency. 

At Lakeside, we use a clear reading structure to ensure the children are exposed to and are able to explore a wide range of texts. It also ensures the National Curriculum is met in each year group as well as a full coverage and a clear progression of skills. We recognise the importance of teaching the key reading skills consistently across school therefore this clear planning structure supports this to happen. We focus on building background knowledge in English through a range of Fiction and Non-Fictions texts which are linked to the topic and English planning to ensure a cross curricular approach. Class novels, assemblies and our engagement with Newsround all help to build background knowledge, schemas and deepen understanding, all of which can be applied to comprehension. Additionally, we use pre-teaching key concepts as a strategy to help develop reading skills for children who may require it. Oracy is also used to develop reading ability and in particular reading comprehension across our school. We do this by providing all children with a variety of language structures that assist learners' discussions based on key texts. Furthermore, Topic hooks, local library visits and WOW days are incorporated into the curriculum to engage and enhance the learning experiences, such as World Book Day and author visits. 

Reading at Lakeside is mainly assessed through the use of Phonics Tracker, Accelerated reader/Star Testing  and Target Tracker. These assessment mediums are used to track children's progress and through analysing the data, timely interventions are implemented to ensure no child is left behind.

Children can achieve aspects of the Harmony Pledge and our Read, Achieve, Succeed initiative through the enriching reading curriculum we offer at Lakeside. 

IMPLEMENTATION      

• All teaching staff are reading experts due to our CPD and PDM opportunities.
• Children are exposed to daily shared reading lessons, where they are exposed to a range of carefully selected texts including classic and modern literature, fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This allows children to develop and deepen their understanding of different genres.
• Through the use of our school library, a range of books in every classroom and MyOn, children are provided with a breadth of reading materials which enthuse, challenge and inform learning. The children are able to independently select texts to promote reading for pleasure. 
• Phonics is introduced in the Foundation Stage using the Harmony Trust Phonics Framework, which is aligned to Letters and Sounds, and Launchpad to Literacy. This is continued through Key Stage 1 through daily whole class phonics sessions. Interventions such as small reading groups, precision teaching and pre-teaching are implemented so gaps and misconceptions are addressed across school.
• When children are learning to read in EYFS and Year 1, they are provided with reading books which connects closely to the phonic knowledge the pupils are being taught. From Year 2 upwards Accelerated Reader is used to monitor children’s independent reading. Through the use of online ‘quizzes’ reading comprehension is assessed to ensure texts are carefully matched and appropriate challenge is provided to all of our learners.  Children in KS2 who have been identified with gaps in their phonics knowledge also have a phonics book matched to phase they are working at. 
• Children are given 1:1 opportunities to read aloud to an adult in school. Additionally, reading buddies are used within classes and across key stages to provide opportunities to share and experience texts together.
• Every classroom has a selection of high-quality texts which are directly linked to our topics. This allows children to apply their reading skills across the curriculum and develop their vocabulary. Vocabulary is explicitly taught across the curriculum to help support reading comprehension. 
• To foster a love of reading, teachers read engaging texts to children every day with intonation and expression. These texts are recommended and chosen by the children themselves from our reading spine. Once read aloud, the texts are kept in reading areas for the children to enjoy again and again. 
• Parental partnership is vital in the development of reading therefore we reward reading at home weekly through class reading charts, reading records and MyOn. 
• English reading leads will carry out pupil voice, listen to readers, alongside a book look for pupils to share their learning and knowledge.  Staff voice is used to identify effective resources, subject knowledge, support CPD needed and what is working well.
• Reading is celebrated through central displays and working walls within the classroom based around the current topic. Themed days, including World Book Day are also celebrated throughout the whole school and shared with parents. Termly newsletter are written to share reading successes across the school- sharing this with parents, children and staff. 
• A whole school reading structure is used including, cross-curricular opportunities, S&L activities to support language comprehension, scaffolding e.g. use of visuals, repetition of skills to reinforce/consolidate learning e.g. question types (retrieval)
• Reading is celebrated and rewarded during achievement assemblies

For more information about how we teach reading at Lakeside and how to support your child at home with reading go to the Reading at Home page (link below)

Files to Download

Other pages