Intent – what we want to achieve

Our reading intent is to ensure that we provide all the children with a curriculum which is aspirational, engaging and ultimately bespoke to meet the needs of the children in our care. A curriculum which is evolving and reacting to the needs of our society.

Our reading curriculum has the National Curriculum at its heart, but it does not stand alone. Our intent is to instil children with a passion for reading which will endure beyond their academic lifetime.

Currently, our key curriculum approach being applied is Complete Comprehension (Schofield and Sims).

There are 21 inspiring texts for each year group which focus on the skills of: word meaning, retrieval, summarising, inference, prediction, relationship, word choice and comparison.

‘Reading is one of the most important outcomes of a primary school education, and one of the most powerful skills we will ever master, as it is crucial for understanding the world around us. It is no exaggeration to say that the benefits of being an effective reader last a lifetime.’ (Schofield and Sims 2020.)

We are also passionate about developing vocabulary. Guided Reading sessions also have a clear vocabulary focus where children explore substitution, shades of meaning, categorisation and etymology.  Learning to define words in context is an important skill to develop inference, and one that confident readers use regularly.  Through developing vocabulary skills children make links between known and unknown words and use the context of the word to interpret meaning; enhancing their cultural capital is also essential.

The children are encouraged to have a love of books and reading and initiatives such as The Reading Challenge help to encourage this. Guided and Whole Class Reading sessions are integral to the teaching of English with classes focusing on a selected book, anthology, article or short story. 

Implementation – how we deliver the reading curriculum

In our weekly guided reading session, children are provided with the opportunity to develop reading skills, such as skimming and scanning. The close scrutiny of a text, allows children to see how writers develop their craft and give them the opportunity to use these skills in their own writing.

Complete Comprehension:

1. Get Ready – initial examination of the text with a focus on vocabulary - Language Toolkit. A variety of vocabulary activities linked to the text are taught on a two-week rolling programme.  All children have a copy of the text glued onto a double-page spread in their books, initial vocabulary work is done in the surrounding space on the page and the text is supplemented with additional visual resources as appropriate.

2. First steps: Read the text together and check understanding, background knowledge is developed during the first reads of the extract, making links to previous texts that the children may be familiar with and referencing other reading material that the children may want to look at from the classroom collections or the school library.  This section also asks the children to reflect on their enjoyment of the extract.  

3. Explore: Discuss and appreciate the text’s themes and features.  These enrichment opportunities can be included in Week 2 daily tasks if insufficient time is available during the 90 minute lessons.

Teacher model skill focus Q1-Q4: Think aloud and develop strategies - high profile on display to then refer back to for skill focus questions. This maybe recorded on white boards in pairs to develop confidence and learning partners.  This is done on a daily basis as part of Week 1 returning to the text and preparation for the following week’s comprehension tasks.

4. Skills focus: Complete questions with the application of strategies.  Reference is made to the text to support the answering of comprehension questions.  Each text has a different focus – prediction, retrieval, relationship, inference, summarising, word choice and comparison.

5. Mix it up. Revisiting and practising all skills – layered effect for depth.  This section is completed more independently offering opportunities to practise skills taught.

We also encourage reading for pleasure in a dedicated timeslot with a huge array of interesting reading material for the children.  We work across school and within our classes to ‘Buddy Read’ and share our love of books.  Reading is celebrated throughout the school year with Parent Lunches, visiting authors, our annual Poetry Competition and the Book Fair which enables us to restock our library. 

The library is available to the children during lunchtimes where they are free to spend time looking at the books and magazines and can sign books out to take home.  A TA runs the 30 minute sessions and “employs” willing pupils to assist with returning books to the shelves, tidying and sorting new stock.

Pupils have access to a Reading Spine for each year group to encourage them to read books with; archaic language; non-linear texts; complexity of narrator; complexity of plot/symbol and resistant texts.

All children also have access to read online books as part of our subscription to Bug Club.

Where appropriate, reading is linked to our writing curriculum to establish a purpose for writing. This helps children to be inspired by authors and to use ideas they have gained from their reading experience rather than be limited by life experience.

Impact – how we measure the impact on children’s reading

Through the explicit teaching of reading skills, both the teachers and pupils assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. Every time a child’s writing is marked teachers assess whether a child has achieved the success criteria. Pupils are also encouraged to self and peer assess. In addition, they identify common misconceptions and individual errors such as spelling and grammatical issues.  

We use formative and summative assessments for reading. Progress is assessed through clear success criteria and learning objectives for each guided reading lesson. Each term, children complete the NFER Reading papers.  In the Summer term, Year 6 complete a Reading SAT.  Salford Reading assessments are carried out termly.

Pupil views on the impact of our reading curriculum is important to us. We carry out a pupil voice each year (see below for examples.)

Reading 

The children are encouraged to have a love of books and reading and initiatives such as The Reading Challenge help to encourage this. Guided and Whole Class Reading sessions are integral to the teaching of English with groups focusing on a selected book, anthology, article or short story.  Aspects of English covered during the week’s teaching can be reinforced during the guided reading session, providing children with the opportunity to discuss the text, make predictions as to how the story may develop and summarise key points. The close scrutiny of a text, allows children to see how writers’ develop their craft and give them the opportunity to use these skills in their own writing.

We also encourage reading for pleasure in a dedicated timeslot with a huge increase in new reading material for the children.  We work across school to ‘Buddy Read’ and share our love of books.  Reading is celebrated throughout the school year with Parent Lunches, our annual Poetry Competition and the Book Fair which enables us to restock our library.

All children also have access to read online books as part of our subscription to Bug Club.

Reading is indelibly linked to all areas of the curriculum and as such is pivotal to learning, promoting challenge and creating a climate for success in all we do!