St. Oswald’s CE VA Primary School Reading and Phonics Information

The National Curriculum for English (2014) aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.

Reading underpins children’s access to the curriculum and it clearly impacts on their achievement. There is considerable research to show that children who enjoy reading and choose to read benefit not only academically, but also socially and emotionally.

To be able to read, children need to be taught an efficient strategy to decode words. That strategy is phonics and at St Oswald’s CE VA Primary School, we follow the SSP Programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised which teaches segmenting and blending skills as well as tricky word recognition. Once fluency develops, scheme books are no longer necessary and children are offered choice from a wide selection of books.

It is essential that children are actively taught and supported to use phonics as the only approach to decoding. Other strategies must be avoided. Phonic decoding skills must be practised until children become automatic and fluent reading is established.

Fluent decoding is only one component of reading. Comprehension skills need to be taught to enable children to make sense of what they read, build on what they already know and give them a desire to want to read.

Reading increases children’s vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Furthermore, children who read widely and frequently also have more secure general knowledge.

Reading is a life-long skill which must be taught and encouraged in our children from a young age. This is the firm foundation to which our curriculum is built upon and provides a platform for all of our learning.

We begin by introducing children to wordless books and these are embedded in the curriculum across the school, providing children with opportunities to develop speaking and listening skills.

From the very early days in school children read and are read to.  They experience a great variety of stories, poems and rhymes, in groups as well as individually.

Children are encouraged to discuss stories, relate them to their own experiences and, with the help of relevant questioning, offer opinions about the plot and the characters and hypothesise what might happen next.

The skills needed to access non- fiction books are introduced and referred to frequently. A range of information books are displayed in classes to support the current topic and encourage a love of reading.

We offer a great variety of fiction, poetry books and non- fiction texts alongside a structured reading scheme to develop and build up children’s reading

In the Early Years, reading is progressively developed through a range of activities revisited and communicated home, on a regular basis. A reading diary is established as a valuable communication system between home and school.

Parents are encouraged to write an appropriate comment about how their child is progressing and read with their child at least three times a week (one of which must be their school reading book).

Teachers keep a record of each child’s phonic progress and attainment, identifying gaps and next steps. Success is crucial in developing confidence at this stage. Much praise, encouragement and practice are very important.

Reception parents receive a pack of information which outlines our approach to reading and how parents can play their part. They also have an opportunity to attend a Reading Information workshop in their child’s first term in school.  We provide parents with a wide range of resources, including paper based, online and video materials to support with phonics and reading at home.

‘Project X’ within Year 2 & KS2 is our main reading scheme, which has been chosen by both our staff and children. Big Cat Collins for Little Wandle is our main reception and year 1 reading scheme, which is fully decodable and in line with our thorough phonics teaching and set up, in school.

Children engage in group reading sessions regularly, and those needing support or who have not had the opportunity to read at home are invited to attend our Friday reading sessions which are led by support staff, parents and volunteers from the community.

Reading is celebrated with weekly rewards given to children who have followed the non-negotiable of reading three times a week.