Reading plays a big part in learning in our school and its foundations lie in a strong focus on phonics from the very moment the children start school. We are proud of our attainment and progress in phonics and reading throughout school; however, we never rest on our laurels and are always looking at ways to continuously improve.  We have a well-stocked library, ensure that children have a class story read to them each day (in all year groups) and we match our texts in Guided Reading and Humanities/Science to the topic being taught, ensuring we are ambitious in our choices in order to challenge the children. We base our reading curriculum content on the EYFS and national curriculum milestones, and we also break these down termly so we know that learning to read is based on a progressive model.  We have recently launched our '101 books to read before leaving High Ash' as a scheme to encourage a life-long love of reading.  

We ensure that our children read good quality fiction and non-fiction texts. 

Phonics Lead - Mrs Natalie Barrasford

Reading Lead - Mrs Ella Derham

All Phase Leaders are also responsible for reading within their year groups and this is monitored and overseen by the Senior Leadership Team.

We use Read Write Inc as our Phonics programme and this is in place across Foundation, Key Stage One and remains with each child as they progress through school as needed. Phonics is taught daily in Foundation and KS1 at 9am and the children are in small, fluid ability groups to allow us to maximise their progress. We track their progress in Phonics every six weeks and adapt provision/groupings accordingly. 

In Foundation Stage and KS1, reading books are linked to the phonics sounds being taught and build on their blending skills and knowledge of 'red words'- these are words that they need to know by sight as they cannot be sounded out phonetically.

Early Reading in Key Stage One

In Years One and Two, the children follow the RWI Scheme and progress through the stages as guided by their teacher and which builds on their blending, developing fluency, accuracy and understanding.

When children have completed the RWI scheme, they move onto guided reading sessions, which ensures the children become confident readers and develop their comprehension and inference skills. Reading is assessed regularly using NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) assessments as well as the national reading standards at the end of Year Two.

Children take home reading books linked to their phonics stage, yet also a library book for an adult to read at home to them. This really  supports a love of reading and develops vocabulary.

We also provide additional interventions to support children with reading if needed.

Reading in Key Stage Two

We aim to triangulate our reading in Key Stage Two so that our class texts align with our topic. Our class texts are used both for reading lessons and read regularly to the children. This is to support reading enjoyment, broaden vocabulary and  secure knowledge acquisition.

Reading is taught everyday and is based on a whole-class, fluency approach. Fluency focuses on accuracy, automaticity and prosody. As a school, we have based our structure on Christopher Such's theory.  

Reading is assessed regularly using NFER assessments as well as the national reading standards at the end of Year Six.

For children who may need extra support, we also provide a range of reading interventions led by our teachers and teaching assistants, using our phonics programme. 

Reading For Pleasure 

We encourage reading for pleasure at our school and each class enjoys a weekly visit to the library where they can peruse the wide selection of fiction and non-fiction texts to enjoy. The Year 6 reading ambassadors maintain the library, making it an engaging place to enjoy reading and finding the next book to get stuck into. 

We regularly invite authors into school to provide inspiration to children and increase their love of reading. In addition, book clubs are run on a weekly basis encouraging discussion and critique about new texts. 

Through relationships with local book shops, we have also been able to offer discounted books to parents and a flow of new texts, which are based on current topics, to refresh our library offering.