Calverley CE Primary School

Our Intent, Implementation and Impact statement for Reading and Phonics

Intent

At Calverley Church of England Primary School, we believe that all pupils should be provided with the opportunity to become fluent, confident readers who can both comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. At our school, reading is a top priority and a key driver for our curriculum. It is our intention to ensure that children read widely across both fiction and non-fiction texts and develop the ability to read fluently and with confidence.  By providing our children with exposure to a wide range of diverse texts and authors, the children can understand more about the world that we live in. Through reading such materials, we aim to develop and enrich the level of vocabulary used by the children and encourage them to become inquisitive and independent learners. Through this vision, we are preparing our children for later life and providing them with the tools to be successful both in a Primary and Secondary setting.

Implementation

We teach phonics in small groups so children are given the appropriate level of focus and support. Through this strategy, our phonics lessons are taught so they challenge the children to reach age related expectations. Guided reading is taught daily in whole class lessons. This approach guarantees that children are provided with the appropriate level of exposure to key reading skills required to enhance their development. Where necessary, support in these lessons is specifically targeted by teachers and teaching assistants therefore enabling all children to make progress. We encourage children to push towards achieving greater depth and ensure that the level of challenge in each lesson demonstrates this. This is achieved through targeted questioning which requires more detailed and thorough answers and encouraging more reasoned answers and opinions.

Phonics

The systematic approach to the teaching of phonics has a high priority in our school. At Calverley CE, we use ‘Read Write Inc’ which is produced by Ruth Miskin. These sessions are taught by a wide range of highly trained staff. Planned additional intervention groups take place to support learners who are not working at the age related expected standard. The children in Year 1 will undertake phonics screening tests in the Summer term. We feel that the teaching and development of phonics shouldn’t end at this point we continue to teach these skills up until the Summer term in Year 2. Any children who don’t pass the screening test in Year 1 will receive additional interventions. In the Summer term, the children in Year 2 will move to whole class guided reading lessons.

Guided reading

Reading lessons are taught daily in each year group. Each session will last between 30 and 45 minutes and have a focus of a high quality text, which in most cases is pitched towards the higher ability level of the class. Lessons will include a short shared read which allows the teacher to model read to the children. This ensures that all children to have access to the text. The children are usually provided with extracts from the text which provides the opportunity to develop reading fluency and comprehension skills. By using a shared text, all children are given exposure to high quality vocabulary which is then often reused in writing lessons. Teachers and teaching assistants provide support through targeted conversations, different levels of differentiated questions and high quality modelling.

At Calverley CE Primary school, we recognise the need for children to develop reading for pleasure. All children from Year 4 onwards have access to the Accelerator Reader scheme which provides children with the opportunity to pick an appropriate book to read for pleasure. This reading takes place both at home and in school. The children are electronically tested to establish a reading level and therefore pick a book to read which matches their ability. Once the book is completed, the child can take a comprehension test on the book and the results are then analysed by the class teacher. In Year R to Year 3, children take home a book from our reading scheme. The book is carefully chosen so it that it is a pre taught sound. Children in Year R to Year 2 also take home a picture book which can be read with a parent or carer.

Children are assessed using both formative and summative assessment and data is entered termly onto the school tracking system. Teachers are able to use standardised scores from these assessments to track the progress of pupils.

Impact

  • Children enjoy reading and can talk openly about their reading experiences
  • Children enjoy reading across a range of genres
  • Children are given appropriate exposure to develop all a wide range of reading skills
  • Children have exposure to a diverse range of authors
  • Children can use what they have learnt in reading and apply it to other areas of the curriculum
  • Children can read independently and aloud with confidence
  • Children make good progress in reading and a high percentage achieve the expected level within each year group
  • The percentage of children working at GD is in line with the national average
  • All children, regardless of background are given the appropriate support to develop reading skills.