Sherwood Park Primary School

At Sherwood Park we value reading as a key life skill. We believe that reading provides pupils with a purpose and context for writing and develops their ability to speak and listen.

Pupils are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, to gain knowledge across the curriculum and develop their comprehension skills. It is our intention to ensure that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to use their knowledge, skills and understanding to read fluently, and with confidence, across a range of different subjects in order to succeed in their forthcoming secondary education and the wider world.  

Intent

• To teach children to read with confidence, fluency and understanding.
• To develop enthusiastic, motivated and reflective readers, through contact with challenging and quality texts.
• To encourage a love of literature and an enjoyment of reading for pleasure.
• To develop children’s confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types.
• To equip children with the skills needed to decode words, in order to be able to read fluently and with understanding of what they have read.
• To provide children with a consistent phonics approach as a basis for their English learning and continuous development.
• To enable children to become confident, independent readers, through an appropriate focus on phonics, word, sentence and text-level knowledge.

Implementation

• At Sherwood Park, our reading curriculum links closely with our writing curriculum; we use a text-based approach that enables us to create opportunities for reading, discussion and writing within English and reading lessons.
• In the Foundation Stage, the teaching of reading is based on two areas of learnings: Communication and Language and Literacy in The Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS).
• In Key Stage 1 and 2, the teaching of reading is based on the 2014 National Curriculum for English and what we know and believe is successful about teaching children to read. In line with the programmes of study for reading at Key Stages 1 and 2 in the National Curriculum, our teaching objectives cover two dimensions: 

• Word Reading
• Comprehension (both listening and reading)

• All children will be taught phonic skills following the principles of Letters and Sounds. This will take place through dedicated phonics lessons in Foundation Stage and KS1. During daily phonic lessons, children have the opportunity to revisit previous learning, practise and apply new skills in structured but engaging ways.
• Every day children in Reception, KS1 and KS2 take part in a carousel of reading activities, which include: Guided Reading with the class teacher/TA, a follow-up comprehension, a SPaG activity, independent reading and, in Foundation Stage and KS1, a phonics activity.
• The school subscribes to First News and receives a weekly issue of the newspaper. Children in Years 3 to 6 read the newspapers as part of their independent reading time during Reading Carousel. This links to our mission at Sherwood Park, which is to, “…equip our children with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to become responsible world citizens…”.
• Class teachers use the KS1 and KS2 reading domains to plan daily Guided Reading lessons in order to encourage children to demonstrate their understanding of the different texts that they are exposed to.
• We are fortunate to have a wide range of reading books in our school. All children from Nursery to Year 6 choose a reading book to take home and this reading book is changed weekly.
• Children who are not yet ‘Free Readers’ will work through our school reading scheme – these are levelled books which match the children’s current phonic/reading ability. We expect a parent or carer to read these books with the child daily and make comments in their Reading Record.
• Children are encouraged to read at home at least four times a week.
• Each classroom has a themed reading area, which contains a selection of age-appropriate books that are organised by genre (KS2) or text-type (Early Years and KS1).
• The class teacher reads to the class every day at 3.15pm during whole-school story time. This could be a book that the teacher recommends to the class, a recommendation from a child or a class vote on a choice of books.
• Once a term, class teachers in Years 1 to 6 use Rising Stars and PiRA to assess children against the reading domains. These assessments inform planning and allow teachers to identify any gaps in learning. Class teachers in Foundation Stage and KS1 complete phonic assessments (half termly for low-attainers and children in Year 1 in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check) and plot children onto a tracking grid, which ensures children who may be falling behind are targeted with appropriate interventions.

Impact

• Attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage One and Two. These results are measured against the reading attainment of children nationally. Attainment in phonics is measured by the Phonics Screening Check at the end of Year 1. 
• Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1.
• Children will be confident, enthusiastic and motivated readers who will enjoy reading a wide variety of genres and text types.
• Children will have the skills to decode words and a secure understanding of what they have read.
• Children will be inspired by literature and will read for pleasure.