Promoting Reading
We want all children to develop a love of reading whilst at St John's Church of England Academy. We provide a rich, reading curriculum and environment, incorporating high quality texts identified from Read in to Writing which is at the centre of our English curriculum.
Teaching of Reading includes daily phonic sessions and comprehension sessions modelling understanding, responding to questions and developing new and ambitious vocabulary.
The teacher reads aloud to their class daily, modelling expression, pace, new vocabulary and pronunciation; with children given opportunities to rehearse their reading aloud in order to master their performance and understanding.
Being active in reading stories engages the children whilst enhancing their decoding and comprehension skills. Children are asked to consider, ‘What would you do? Why?’. By making such strong links between themselves and characters the children begin to ‘live’ the stories, entering into the world of the book which empowers and enthuses them, encouraging to read more widely.
At St John’s C of E Academy we expose children to a range of ambitious texts so they are challenged to:
- Read to be entertained/for pleasure
- Read to inform and build understanding about specific subjects areas/topics/ the world around us
- Read to make links – within the book, book to book, author to author, with the wider world
- Read to build vocabulary knowledge, understanding and use including comprehension skills
- Read to explore historic and social events as well as exploring emotions and behaviours
At St John’s C of E Academy we use Rising Stars Read into Writing scheme to deliver our key text reading and writing curriculum. This has been amended during the year due to Covid/Lockdown/Remote Education. Each unit of the scheme gives curriculum coverage for Reading, Writing, Spoken Language and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling as well as examples of Wider Reading Opportunities as identified below.
Phonics Milestones Progression Document provides details of discrete Phonics teaching across EYFS, KS1 and into KS2 where needed. The focus of this is ensuring children have a rigorous and systematic approach to learning of phonemes, graphemes, decoding skills, sight word recognition and fluency. This is reviewed annually due to cohort need and is amended to reflect changes made due to Covid/Lockdown/Remote Education.
From November 2021 EYFS and Year 1 are using the Essential Letters and Sounds Systematic Synthetic Phonics Program.
Reading texts are linked to phonic phases. Individual reading books are provided to support progression in reading skills; initially through reading schemes then general reading texts.
Whole Class Reading is taught discretely from Years 2 – 6 through Cracking Comprehension. This scheme exposes children to age related texts that are fiction, non-fiction and poetry based. Texts are either complete or extracts and make links to other related texts to support the children in making links between the themes, style and structures of texts and authors.
Throughout the school the importance of good comprehension skills is emphasised so that children understand what they are reading, as well as developing fluency and speed. The children have regular opportunities to read a range of texts throughout the school week as well as experiencing structured reading lessons which teach these key skills.
Being a Reader at Key Stage 1
The government has identified the bullet points below as the ‘expected standard’ in reading by the end of Key Stage One.
Making inferences
Make simple and general inferences based on the text
Make simple and general predictions based on the text
Comprehension
Identify the meaning of vocabulary in context
Identify sequences of events in a range of straightforward texts
Identify how information is related and/or organised within texts
Provide simple explanations for:
The significance of titles in fiction and non-fiction texts
Events and characters’ actions
Key information
Retrieve details from fiction and non-fiction to demonstrate understanding of character, events and information
Language for effect
Identify simple and recurring literary language
Being a Reader at Key Stage 2
Themes and conventions
Accurately identify the features, themes and conventions of a range of fiction
Accurately identify the features, themes and conventions of a range of non-fiction text types and forms
Draw on evidence within texts to explain how themes emerge and conventions are applied in a range of genres and conventions of fiction and non-fiction
Making inferences
Make developed inferences drawing on evidence from the text
Explain and justify inferences, providing evidence from the text to support reasoning
Make developed predictions that are securely rooted in the text
Comprehension
Show an understanding of the meaning of vocabulary in context
Accurately and selectively summarise main ideas, events, characters and information in fiction and non-fiction texts
Identify language, structural and presentational features used in texts
Provide developed explanation for key information and events and characters’ actions and motivations
Provide straightforward explanations for the purpose of the language, structure and presentation of texts
Retrieve key details and quotations from fiction and non-fiction to demonstrate understanding of character, events and information
Make accurate and appropriate comparisons within texts
Correctly distinguish between statements of fact and opinion
Language for effect
Identify a range of figurative language
Explain the effect of figurative language
Perseverance Respect Forgiveness Truth Aspiration