Reading

Reading is placed at the heart of our curriculum.

We understand that the key to children’s success in all areas of the curriculum, is their ability to read and that fluent readers will learn more, because they can read and gain knowledge for themselves. We aspire for all of our children to become readers; so that we can nurture them to grow into confident, motivated life-long learners.

Intent - why are we teaching this?

At Warren Hills, reading is placed at the centre of our curriculum and we are determined that all children will learn to read regardless of their needs, ability or background. We aspire for all pupils to grow into confident, keen and capable life-long readers and we understand that discrete word reading, fluency, comprehension and a love of reading must be intertwined to enable this.

• We adopt a ‘phonics first’ approach to the teaching of early reading to ensure that decoding becomes automatic and habituated.
• We follow the Read Write Inc. (Ruth Miskin) phonics scheme to ensure that phonics is taught with pace and rigour.
• We ensure that children facing barriers in learning to read are identified early and that they are supported in catching up with their peers.
• We provide children with regular opportunities to read in school, by teaching whole class reading lessons and group guided reading sessions to develop fluency and comprehension skills.
• Reading is celebrated in the wider school community by sending reading records home and encouraging children to read with parents daily; supporting parents by holding drop in sessions; having book swap facilities in the foyer and celebration days.

Implementation - what does it look like in our school?

Nursery

At Warren Hills, the foundations for early reading begin in our Nursery, where children are introduced to Set 1 Speed sounds. Children are exposed to the sounds in small groups and become used to seeing how the letters and sounds look so that they can begin to recognise them. Our Nursery staff use sound cards and introduce the children to the pictures associated with each sound through using picture cards and having sound charts displayed around their Nursery environment. All of our pre-school Nursery staff are trained in using the Read Write Inc. Phonics for Nursery programme.

Key Stage 1

Children in Reception to Year 2 are taught phonics every day as part of a phonics carousel on:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9:00-9:45am.
• Tuesdays at 11:00-11:45am.

At these times children move to their relevant phonics groups where their Reading Teacher conducts the session and then sends the children back to class once the phonics session has ended. Our Reading Teachers are a mix of teachers and support staff, all of our staff are trained to deliver the Read Write Inc. phonic programme.

By the Summer term in Year 2, it is expected that children who are now working at age related expectation move off the Read Write Inc. phonics programme and are taught through whole class VIPERS reading lessons. Children in Year 2 who continue to be assessed as below age related expectation during the Summer term, will continue to access the phonics carousel.

Lower Key Stage 2

Reading lessons in Year 3 and 4 take place at the same time as the Key Stage 1 phonics carousel (see timings above).

Children in Year 3 and 4 who are working below age-expected in reading attend their appropriate phonics group at this time. Children in Years 3 and 4 who are off the phonics programme are taught to develop reading fluency and comprehension through VIPERS (Literacy Shed Plus) sessions. VIPERS lessons take place daily at the same time as Key Stage 1 phonics lessons to ensure that any children from Year 3 and 4 required to access the phonics carousel can do so. VIPERS lessons consist of daily vocabulary starter games, focussing on different question types, reading and understanding a range of text types.

Upper Key Stage 2

Children in Years 5 and 6 who are assessed as working significantly below age expectations in reading access the Fresh Start phonics programme. Fresh Start phonics sessions take place daily:

• Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 9:00-9:25am.
• On Tuesdays, timings change dependant on which year group is swimming.

The Fresh Start phonics programme consists of an ‘Introductory module’, followed by thirty-three additional modules for pupils to work through. The focus towards the latter modules progresses from building accuracy in word reading to developing fluency. The Read Write Inc. Phonics and Fresh Start follow a similar phonics progressio however the texts in the two programmes are not interchangeable. The pace of Fresh Start is much faster than the Read Write Inc. phonics programme as the phonics progression has a greater focus on the ‘review’ aspect.

Reading Books

Key Stage 1

Phonetically decodable books which are closely matched to children’s grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge are used both in school and at home to allow sufficient practise in reading and re-reading.

All reading books are closely matched to the Read Write Inc. phonics programme and are colour coded accordingly.

Reading books are changed every 3-5 days (depending on the phonics level) and Reading Teachers are responsible for ensuring that children’s’ books are changed and returned to school on a daily basis. A record of issued and returned books is kept on a red clipboard by each Reading Teacher.

Additionally, children are sent home with a ‘reading for pleasure book’. This can is an enjoyable picture book or a book higher than their reading level that can be shared with a parent at home; so that the children have the opportunity to listen to a story they cannot yet read themselves.

Key Stage 2

In Years 3 and 4, any children who continue to access the Read Write Inc phonics programme are provided with phonetically decodable books, closely matched to their phonics level. (See Key Stage 1 above).

Children in Key Stage 2 who are working at age expectation in reading are deemed to be ‘free-readers’. These children choose from a range of age-appropriate books available from their class book shelf. They choose from a range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction books to develop pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and love of reading.

In Year 5 and 6, children who are accessing the Fresh Start programme, work through passages of text. Additionally, they take home a reading ‘Book Bag Book’ book closely matched to their phonics level directly from the Read Write Inc scheme.

Golden Bookcase

In addition, all children have access to choosing a book from the ‘Golden Bookcase’. These comprise of three bookcases (Key Stage 1, Lower and Upper Key Stage 2) that contain a selection of age-appropriate books from a recommended list of one hundred books for children to read. Teachers choose children to select from the Golden Bookcases in accordance with their professional judgement in response to children’s needs. The Golden Bookcases aim to motivate and encourage children to enjoy reading, as well as celebrate success in reading across the school.

Assessment

Read Write Inc.

Reading Teachers are continually conducting ongoing assessments of the children ‘live’ during phonics sessions. During the speed sound part of the phonics lesson they assess children’s oral responses to the sound cards and when hearing children read during the ‘partner practice’ and ‘read’ parts of the phonics session they are assessing accuracy and fluency.

Our pupils are assessed on a half termly basis during their time on the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme. Individual assessments are conducted with the children by the Phonics Lead and English Lead, in which the children are shown a series of sounds, words (including nonsense/alien words), sentences and passages of text (at the latter stage the programme). Children are assessed on accuracy and then fluency and accuracy (through assessing words read per minute) as they become further along the programme.

Following individual assessments, pupils are regrouped and staff (Reading Teachers) are reassigned to groups of children to ensure that all children are accessing phonics teaching appropriate to their level of need. The regrouping is conducted and coordinated by the Phonics Lead and English Lead.

Phonics Screening

Alongside the half termly assessments, children in Year 1 participate in mock phonics screening tests in Autumn 2, Spring 1, Spring 2 and Summer 1. In addition to this, Read Write Inc. phonics screening assessments are conducted in November, February and May. The children then undertake the statutory STA Phonics Screening Test in June every year.

Fresh Start

Fresh Start assessments. are conducted with children in Years 5 and 6 who continue to be significantly below age expectations. These children then access the Fresh Start programme and are reassessed at half termly intervals, as is done in the core phonics programme to enable children to be grouped and Reading Teachers assigned accordingly.

Catch-up

• Children who are falling behind or are at risk of falling behind are further supported by a range of interventions:
• Virtual Classrooms boosters delivered via a laptop or an IPad to provide children with additional phonics sessions, taught on-screen by a Read Write Inc demonstration teacher. 
• Additional Daily Reading- children being heard read by an adult at an additional time than in their phonics session.
• ECHO Reading intervention to develop fluency and accuracy further along in the phonics programme.
• Children who do not pass the Phonics Screen in Year 1 and during the resitting in Year 2, continue with Phonics in Years 3 and 4.

Parental Engagement - How do I support my child?

• Parents of children in Reception and Year 1 are encouraged to support their child’s learning in early reading by attending a Parents Reading Evening. They are shown examples of how the children see and hear the sound to support them in helping their child practise phonemes and reading at home.
• Home learning phonics packs are provided to parents of children on the Read Write Inc phonics programme at the start of the school year which include phonemes being taught and resources to encourage application of phonic skills.
• At our twice-yearly Parents Evenings, parents are provided with handouts with advice and tips on how to support their child in developing early reading at home.