At Waterside Primary School we believe that reading and understanding vocabulary are integral to learning. A child’s reading skills are important to their success in school as it will allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills. Additionally, reading can be an enjoyable and imaginative time for children and can open doors too all kinds of worlds. Through reading at Waterside children will have the opportunity to develop culturally, socially and emotionally. A love for reading is fostered at Waterside through sharing of texts and stories across the curriculum and sharing our own passion for books.
Reading Leaders: Miss C Cooke and Mrs T Bickerton-Dean
Our Reading Intent
At Waterside Primary School we believe that reading is an essential life skill and we are committed to enabling out children to become life long readers.
At the heart of our strategy is out drive to foster a love for reading, enriching children's learning through carefully designed teaching that utilise imaginative stories and thought provoking texts.
Reading is skill that enables children to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and lays the foundation for success in future lines of study and employment. We recognise the importance of taking a consistent whole school approach to the teaching of reading in order to close any gaps and to target the highest possible number of children attaining the expected standard or higher.
Reading and Phonics Implementation
Across Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, we teach phonics (i.e. the sounds represented by the letters) and help children to learn whole words in order to develop a wide sight vocabulary through a scheme called Little Wandle. Any child who continues to require phonics reading receive supported interventions through this programme. This programme is a method of learning letter sounds and blending them together to read and write words. This is supported by a comprehensive scheme of reading books provided by Little Wandle and Collins Big Cat. Children who have not met the required standard for phonics in Year 1 or 2 have daily phonics sessions working through the phases either individually or in small group sessions. This continues into Key Stage 2 as necessary.
At Waterside Primary School all classes follow a structured approach to reading. All sessions are interactive and teachers facilitate speaking and listening opportunities, model the reading process and guide children reading and comprehension. Passive learning is minimised and engagement promoted through regular use of think-pair-share and collaborative tasks.
Our aim is to teach children to not only read a text fluently, but to improve their comprehension skills as this will help children to understand and reflect upon what it is they have read. High quality texts and passages are chosen, appropriate to the expectations of the year group or ability of children, and teachers use this to model the application of the agreed reading skills. The types of questions children will explore are relevant to one of the key comprehension skills: discussing and exploring vocabulary; making predictions; discussing the author’s choice of language and the effect it has on a reader; summarising themes and ideas; retrieving information from the text and making inferences using clues from the text.
Further to modelled sessions, children have the opportunity to read texts with greater independence and apply their skills when responding to the wide range of domain questions. Over a fortnightly period, all children will also take part in a small group guided activity, which enables teachers to elicit the needs of children individually and identify areas for future development.
We acknowledge and value the important role played by the family in supporting children’s reading development by reading to them and listening to them read. Books are taken home on a daily basis along with a reading record so that children can be heard reading and a comment (even a brief one) can be made. Children should read and a comment should be written in their reading records at least 5 times a week. In EYFS and KS1 children have the opportunity to take home a Shared Text where we encourage parents to read with their child enjoying a wide range of stimulating texts. In KS2 children have the opportunity to visit their class or school library and additional to their reading book take home a 'reading for pleasure' book of their choice.
Reading is at the very core of our ‘Vibrant and Enriched’ curriculum at Waterside Primary School.
Early Reading
Our Reading Intent
At Waterside Primary School we believe that reading is an essential life skill and we are committed to enabling out children to become life long readers.
At the heart of our strategy is out drive to foster a love for reading, enriching children's learning through carefully designed teaching that utilise imaginative stories and thought provoking texts.
Reading is skill that enables children to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and lays the foundation for success in future lines of study and employment. We recognise the importance of taking a consistent whole school approach to the teaching of reading in order to close any gaps and to target the highest possible number of children attaining the expected standard or higher.
Reading and Phonics Implementation
Across Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, we teach phonics (i.e. the sounds represented by the letters) and help children to learn whole words in order to develop a wide sight vocabulary through a scheme called Little Wandle. Any child who continues to require phonics reading receive supported interventions through this programme. This programme is a method of learning letter sounds and blending them together to read and write words. This is supported by a comprehensive scheme of reading books provided by Little Wandle and Collins Big Cat. Children who have not met the required standard for phonics in Year 1 or 2 have daily phonics sessions working through the phases either individually or in small group sessions. This continues into Key Stage 2 as necessary.
At Waterside Primary School all classes follow a structured approach to reading. All sessions are interactive and teachers facilitate speaking and listening opportunities, model the reading process and guide children reading and comprehension. Passive learning is minimised and engagement promoted through regular use of think-pair-share and collaborative tasks.
Our aim is to teach children to not only read a text fluently, but to improve their comprehension skills as this will help children to understand and reflect upon what it is they have read. High quality texts and passages are chosen, appropriate to the expectations of the year group or ability of children, and teachers use this to model the application of the agreed reading skills. The types of questions children will explore are relevant to one of the key comprehension skills: discussing and exploring vocabulary; making predictions; discussing the author’s choice of language and the effect it has on a reader; summarising themes and ideas; retrieving information from the text and making inferences using clues from the text.
Further to modelled sessions, children have the opportunity to read texts with greater independence and apply their skills when responding to the wide range of domain questions. Over a fortnightly period, all children will also take part in a small group guided activity, which enables teachers to elicit the needs of children individually and identify areas for future development.
We acknowledge and value the important role played by the family in supporting children’s reading development by reading to them and listening to them read. Books are taken home on a daily basis along with a reading record so that children can be heard reading and a comment (even a brief one) can be made. Children should read and a comment should be written in their reading records at least 5 times a week. In EYFS and KS1 children have the opportunity to take home a Shared Text where we encourage parents to read with their child enjoying a wide range of stimulating texts. In KS2 children have the opportunity to visit their class or school library and additional to their reading book take home a 'reading for pleasure' book of their choice.
Reading is at the very core of our ‘Vibrant and Enriched’ curriculum at Waterside Primary School.
Reading Skills
How do we teach reading at Waterside Primary School?
Year 2 (Autumn and Spring 1)
In the Autumn and beginning of the Spring term in Year 2, at Waterside, we continue to build on the reading skills that the children have learned in Year 1. We continue to use the Little Wandle Reading Session structure with book banded books (or decodable books for those still requiring phonics) to develop fluency and comprehension.
Children apply their phonics knowledge by using a full matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
These sessions are 15- 20 minutes long and happen three times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
Year 2 – 6
From Spring 2 in Year 2 through to Year 6 children are taught reading skills through a whole class reading sessions. These sessions occur 4 times per week and follow a clear structure to ensure consistency across school. However, children who require additional support for reading will receive a well differentiated reading session to meet their needs to develop their confidence in reading. In reading skills lessons children:
Develop their fluency of reading through modelled reading and opportunities to read
Develop understanding of vocabulary and the meanings of new words
Develop their internal voice as a reader
Deepen their comprehension skills (aligned with their specific areas for development)
Compare texts
Wil be become increasingly independent in applying reading skills
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