Reading -  The English programme of study 

To enable children to read fluently and accurately for pleasure. To become fluent readers with the skills to access, engage with and enjoy a wide range of texts.

In keeping with The English programme of study, pupils at Victor Seymour Infants’ School are taught reading in a variety of ways.

These include:-

• sharing texts, both English based and cross-curricular - pupils experience challenging texts through shared reading.
• being taught a sight vocabulary of tricky words e.g. they, saw, come etc.
• daily phonics sessions- learning letter sounds and names, segmenting and blending for decoding and spelling and other spelling strategies such as using the long vowel sounds.
• group reading - guided reading takes place with two groups for three days in Years 1 and 2. In the Foundation Stage Reception classes, Guided Reading can be a focus activity for one session when all the groups will be heard to read in that time rather than one group per day.
• individual children reading with the Class Teacher and the Teaching Assistant

 

The emphasis of teaching shifts from phonic work to comprehension skills as reading ability develops.

All pupils have a banded reading book, which they take home.

Parents are encouraged to support their children’s reading development by reading this and other texts with them on a daily basis.  

All our reading books are banded according to the level of difficulty. All pupils progress through the Reading Bands which include books from reading schemes such as Big Cat, Rigby Star, Oxford Reading Tree etc. They move on to the next band when judged ready by their teacher.

In Foundation Stage N, all children choose and take home a book each week to share with their Parents / Carers. This is accompanied by a drawing book which the child uses to record something they like etc. about the story/poem book / non-fiction book.

Having progressed through Reading Bands Pink to Lime, children then have access to a wide variety of more challenging texts within our ‘Free Reader’ collections in classes. Their teachers closely monitor their selections and the children record these in their reading records. Once a book is finished, the ‘Free Reader’ child is asked to complete a book review about that book.

Each individual teacher keeps Reading Records in class reading record books/folders. Staff have a beginning and end of year progress chart for recording attainment and achievement (see appendix) which they monitor to ensure all children are progressing as they should.

Pupils are encouraged to talk about their recent reading and, in particular, to share discoveries of ‘good reads’ with others.

In Y1 and Y2, when not part of a Guided Reading Group, children independently participate in planned Reading and Literacy-based tasks which support and develop their reading skills.

In all classes, children regularly listen to their teachers reading quality texts.

The application of reading is positively encouraged throughout our daily activities, when children are asked, for example, to read instructions, notices, big book texts and any focused text of that session.

Parents/Carers are encouraged to participate in their child’s reading by hearing them read for 5 to 20 minutes each day at home. Parents/Carers receive regular information through staff writing comments in each child’s Reading Record Book as well as through parents’ evenings and informal meetings.