‘Reading is fundamental to Education.’

READING

Our Intent:

At Croft Infant School our intent is for children to be able to:

• read easily, fluently and with a good understanding in line with end of key stage 1 expectations
• develop the habit of reading often, for both pleasure and information
• develop a wide range of vocabulary to support their comprehension skills.

We understand that reading begins with a language rich environment in which adults are involved in high quality interactions with children. The more children take part in conversation, the more they will understand once they can read.

We want our children to not only see themselves in stories around them but also want our children to learn about the lives and experiences of those who are different to them. Our teachers will share enthusiastically their love of books and reading to inspire our young children at their impressionable age.

Our Implementation:

At Croft Infant School we recognise there are several ways in which reading is equally supported ensure success.

• Word reading and spelling, language comprehension and developing fluency
• Direct teaching of reading in lessons and regular opportunities to read across other areas of the curriculum
• Access to high quality texts which are organised well
• Supporting children who need it the most

Daily phonics/Spelling lessons

In EYFS, children begin their reading journey with picture books which support them with basic book skills, such as identifying the title and retelling the story in their own language to develop vocabulary, understanding the story and how to turn the pages. We value the importance of providing children with the opportunity to tell a story verbally and begin to develop their vocabulary. Once children have learnt the first set of sounds in phonics, they will take home a decodable book to build confidence and develop fluency. Children will then continue to follow the sequence of grapheme phoneme correspondence as identified in our DFE validated SSP programme through the direct teaching of daily phonic lessons. Teachers deliver high quality lessons where children are given the time to practise and apply blending and segmenting of new phonemes. Independent take home books continue to be precisely matched to a child’s individual ability to blend and read words at the different phase and set of decodable books. Running alongside their ability to read decodable words, children are taught ‘tricky words.’ Tricky words cannot be ‘sounded out’ as they break the phonetic rules of the English language.

Children are assessed at regular points throughout each phonic phase. This allows adults to quickly identify children who need support through extra intervention opportunities. By the end of Reception children should be working securely within phase 4.

As children move into Key Stage One they will continue to access daily phonics lessons for phase 5 following the same familiar programme and four-part lesson structure of revise, teach, practise and apply. Children will secure more complex phonemes and tricky words whilst working within phase 5 in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check conducted in June. The children continue to practise their fluency with accurately matched decodable books until they are assessed as being secure at phase 5. Once children have reached this level they will then progress through book bands of non-decodable books to match their growing comprehension levels.

Once our children have completed securing their phonetical knowledge in phase 5 they will move on to begin daily No Nonsense Spelling sessions which support the direct teaching of grammar and punctuation. We follow No Nonsense Spelling to prepare and support transition into our feeder Junior School who continue the same scheme.

Extra support

Children who are identified through teacher observations and regular assessments as needing extra support are provided daily interventions. These interventions are research based strategies recommended through the work we have done with The Flying High English Hub. Children complete these interventions daily with a skilled adult as well as receiving daily reading practice to help ensure gaps are minimalised swiftly and children maintain good progress.

Daily Whole Class Reading

In Key Stage One, our children have a 20minute daily Whole Class Reading session based upon an age appropriate text using a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. During these sessions, teachers choose high quality texts, aimed at a level beyond which children are able to access independently, to support the direct teaching of reading skills such as;

• Predict
• Retrieve
• Sequence
• Inference
• Visualise
• Clarify
• Question
• Vocabulary

Adults model fluent reading aloud to children, support their comprehension of the text and how to pronounce and understand unfamiliar vocabulary. Children will hear adults bring the text to life. This will help to build positive attitude’s towards reading and bring enjoyment to listening to stories. Children will learn how to ‘echo’ read back to their teacher in smaller chunks and build up to ‘choral’ reading extracts of the text in a shared experience. Questions are based around the text and linked to specific reading skills rather than generic questions as these are unlikely to support deeper thinking or rich discussion.

Independent Reading

All children will read their independent book at least once a week to an adult. Adults will use accurate assessments to ensure these books are matched to individual abilities. This helps to ensure the correct level of practise and challenge is given to individuals.  Children will also be encouraged to access our school library to choose books of their own liking – these can be either a book to be shared with the child or one they can access for themselves. 

Enrichment

We include reading across the curriculum by using high quality texts both fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Our classrooms are immersed in books and reading opportunities linked to all areas of continuous provision to give meaning and purpose to all areas of learning. Other areas of the curriculum are taught through stories. Our classrooms have dedicated reading areas which look inviting with well-chosen books. Adults use these areas to spend time reading to and with the children.

Each term children visit Alfreton library where parents are encouraged to send library cards and staff show children how to check out library books to share at home. The librarians talk to the children about how the library works and take time to read and share lovely stories with our children. Some of our older children respond to books they hear by writing book reviews which are put on display for the local community.

Each year, we celebrate World Book Day by joining in with lots of exciting and engaging activities in and outside of the classroom which involves reading and the wider curriculum.  We arrange with local bookstores to source books using the World Book Day tokens which allows us to provide children with an actual book in their hand. Local businesses support our Reading competitions with prizes designed to give children the opportunity for activities within the community such as bowling or a family meal.

Other examples of what enrichment looks like at Croft Infant School includes:

• online story telling with a range of authors and poets
• visits from local authors
• book swap shops
• book fairs

Impact

The effectiveness of our provision is monitored and reviewed regularly by the English Lead through:

• learning experiences
• pupil voice
• book looks
• regular coaching
• sourcing regular CPD for staff
• Staff meetings

At Croft Infant School our children will have experienced a wide variety of literature which demonstrates the huge wide world beyond their thoughts. They will know and value how important being able to read is for their future. They will be motivated to do this for their own personal gain. Children will have all the phonetical skills needed to decode texts and a strong understanding of vocabulary and meaning to help them access the next stage in their learning.