Reading at St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School
St Joseph’s understands the importance of reading in the process of developing pupils into independent learners.
Reading is central to our ability to understand, interpret and communicate with one another. Furthermore, pupils who read on a regular basis, in school and at home, have a higher chance of fulfilling their potential.
Teaching
St Joseph’s follows the Sounds Write framework for teaching pupils how to read.
Nursery children take nursery rhymes home every week to begin their early reading with parents and there is an introduction of books with no words. Nursery pupils build phonological awareness of seven aspects; environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds, oral blending and segmenting. Reception pupils are introduced to the ‘Initial Code’ of Sounds Write. During this period pupils are taught to decode words and to use sound knowledge to read and write words and sentences, including learning some ‘sight’ words which are not decodable.
Each week pupils in Reception and Year 1 will be taught sounds, read a whole-class book on these sounds, take home word lists and the teacher will complete a reading assessment, keeping records which inform immediate interventions. Fidelity to one scheme (Sounds Write recommended texts) ensures that the teaching of reading in our school is consistent, effective and that irregular words are fully learnt as children emerge from Reception into Year 1.
Reading books are consistent with each child’s developing phonic knowledge and are taken home each week. This means that children can practice their reading outside of the school day using a fully decodable text so that they experience success in reading.
In Key Stage 2 some children in Year 3 may continue to access phonics and receive continued intervention. Children who have not yet successfully completed phonics screen tests in Y1 and resits in Y2 will be targeted readers and will receive extra intervention to help develop their reading skills. Once children enter KS2 they immediately access our Reading Plus program both in and out of school. Reading Plus helps pupils to develop the skills they need to be proficient readers and lifelong learners. Reading becomes easier, comprehension increases and students begin to make meaningful connections between what they are reading and what they are learning.
Reading books are colour coded according to reading ability level and children receive a reading book matched to their reading level using a Benchmarking program at the beginning of the year. Summative assessment takes place regularly but also on a rolling programme through Miscue Analysis so that pupils can move through the reading scheme according to ability, eventually becoming a ‘free reader’.
Curriculum End of Phase Expectations
By the end of Key Stage 1 pupils working at the expected standard:
- can read accurately most words of two or more syllables
- can read most words containing common suffixes
- can read most common exception words
- can read, in age-appropriate books, most words accurately without overt sounding and blending, and sufficiently fluently to allow them to focus on their understanding rather than on decoding individual words
- can sound out most unfamiliar words accurately from age-appropriate books without undue hesitation
- can check what they have read makes sense to them in a book they can already read fluently, correcting any inaccurate reading
- can answer questions and make some inferences on a book they can already read fluently
- can explain what has happened so far in what they have read from a book they can already read fluently.
By the end of Key Stage 2 pupils working at the expected standard:
- can read age-appropriate books with confidence and fluency (including whole novels)
- can read aloud with a tone of voice that shows understanding
- can work out the meaning of words from a context
- can explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, drawing inferences and justifying these with evidence
- can predict what might happen from details stated and implied
- can retrieve information from non-fiction books
- can summarise main ideas, identifying key details and using quotations for illustration
- can evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader
- can make comparisons within and across books
Beyond the Curriculum
KS2 children are encouraged to use Reading Plus at home four times per week in order to help them become better readers out of school as well as in school. The program tracks each student’s progress towards overall lesson goals therefore teaching staff can keep track of completed assignments by using the program’s information on each pupil and their usage time, making time in school if need be for those pupils who are less engaged.
Children are encouraged to read widely and to choose books from class reading areas as well as books from the scheme in school. We enjoy reading related celebrations such as World Book Day, World Nursery Rhyme Week and The Northern Children’s Book Festival, as well as ‘virtual’ author visits.