Reading Intent
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free” Frederick Douglass
Developing children’s love of reading is a core value at our school. All staff are dedicated to developing pupil’s reading skills through our daily practice and love of reading. We are determined to become an outstanding reading school where every child will succeed. In doing this we will offer our children a wide range of genres and reading experiences- each to suit the individual thirst for enjoyment and knowledge.
“ If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books” Roald Dahl
To achieve this requires consistency, enthusiasm and commitment. Reading is an underlying aspect of all our lessons and a positive part of our school as a whole. Our environment supports learners and promotes a love of books. Individual classes will contribute to the overall aim of building the skills our developing readers need. Only by the dedicated team work and united approach of staff, can all of our children achieve the reading success that we are committed to providing.
Whatever their starting point, all children will become readers at our school.

Reading Implementation

Learning to read is one of the most important things a child will ever learn. It underpins everything else, so we believe in putting as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. We also want our children to develop a real love of reading and to want to read for themselves. This is why we work hard to make sure children develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. Teachers ensure:

• Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised is used to ensure children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school
• Early identification and intervention to ensure all children make progress
• Children use phonetic knowledge to tackle unfamiliar words
• A strong focus on language and vocabulary development both in reading sessions and other curriculum areas.
• In EYFS phonics provision is also supplemented by a wide range of speaking and listening, English, spelling and grammar activities
• Early readers have a reading book that is closely matched to their phonics knowledge
• Children in KS1 and EYFS also have a choice of 'reading for pleasure' books that they can share at home to help develop a love of reading
• Group reading session allow children to engage in books talk and focus on aspects of decoding, word meaning and comprehension
• Whole class reading sessions are targeted at particular reading skills and are returned to in group and individual reading sessions.
• Our school environment encourages a love of books and reading - our libraries showcase authors and different text types as well as being inviting places to read
• Classrooms display books to encourage children to try new books and authors - this is reflected in class discussions.
• Children are read to every day
• Reading is a priority in our school and the children's interests and preferences are sought and met in our book stock.

Reading Impact

Children's reading is assessed in a range of ways. Individual reading records track the pupil's progress against National Curriculum objectives. This helps teachers to identify gaps and plan next steps. Group reading records show children's contributions to discussions and comprehension. Reading Comprehension tests are used in KS2 to track children's application of skills to a 'cold' text. SATs papers (KS1 and KS2) are used to benchmark children's reading skills against national standards. We use Reading Age Tests and Precision Teaching to analyse gaps and word reading skills to be developed. Children record responses to texts in their books to show understanding. Teachers are able to share understanding of their children as readers during Pupil Progress meetings and pupils are interviewed about their reading choices and requests.