Curriculum
Reading
Curriculum intent, implementation, and impact
Intent
At Wrekin View, we firmly believe that reading is an essential skill that is vital for the life opportunities of our pupils. Our aim is to give reading the prominence it deserves through developing the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. At the heart of our curriculum is our drive to foster a love of reading. We are passionately committed to ensuring that our children become avid lifelong readers. We aim to equip them with the skills needed to access a whole world of books, and therefore a lifetime of enjoyment as they continue to read for pleasure well beyond their time at Wrekin View.
In preparation for the next stages in their learning journey, we strive to ensure that all pupils can read confidently, fluently, accurately and with good understanding. Through following a clear pathway of progression as they advance through our curriculum, all pupils will have the tools needed to successfully read for a range of purposes in all aspects of their future life experiences.
As an academy, we emphasise the importance of mastering the early reading skills as the vital foundations for developing strong word recognition. We prioritise high-quality book talk with all children. Through exposing the pupils to a wide range of genres and authors, we expect them to effectively communicate preferences and opinions about the range of texts they read. Equally, we aim to encourage pupils to explore the vocabulary used and ignite their curiosity as they ask questions to deepen their understanding of what they have read. We aspire to nurture curiosity through encouraging our pupils to enjoy learning about the world in which we live through the knowledge they gain from reading relevant texts.
Implementation
At Wrekin View, we provide purposeful learning opportunities to facilitate progress in reading across our academy. The enjoyment of books and a love of reading are fostered from the earliest stages in each pupil’s time at Wrekin View. In addition to following the National Curriculum, our key aims lay the foundations for our well-sequenced reading curriculum.
The national curriculum for reading 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
- Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- Acquire a wide vocabulary, and an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading
Through the effective implementation of the phonics programme, read, write, inc., we begin the teaching of phonics in nursery. This gives pupils the knowledge and confidence to independently attempt reading and writing from the earliest possible stages. We continue to use the read, write, inc. programme to deliver daily phonics to pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 where necessary. The pupils are taught in small sized ability groups where they participate in speaking, listening, reading, and spelling activities that match their current needs. Strong links are made between reading and writing. Fidelity to one scheme ensures that the teaching of reading is consistent and effective. We have a designated reading lead who oversees the quality of teaching and learning, tracks progress, and ensures that targeted interventions are delivered to rapidly close any gaps. All staff are trained to deliver read, write, inc., and they receive regular training updates to maintain high quality delivery. Additionally, the reading lead supports and mentors staff delivering the lessons daily through regular drop ins and team teaching.
Through teaching pupils to effectively segment and blend at an early stage, we then build on this by placing an emphasis on ensuring that pupils can decode texts effortlessly so that all their resources can then be used to comprehend what they are reading. We recognise the importance of pupils mastering this early reading stage, and we ensure that children are regularly exposed to phonics throughout the school day.
Listen, read, respond (LRR) sessions happen daily in key stage 1 and key stage 2 classes. Our whole class reading sessions aim to support pupil’s word reading, fluency, and decoding, as well as deepen their knowledge of the world around them. During these sessions, pupils are exposed to a wide range of age-appropriate genres, themes, and authors. These high-quality books have been purposefully selected to immerse our pupils in a wealth of vocabulary, and where appropriate, they are linked to the learning from the previous half term. Through equipping our pupils with the background knowledge necessary to access and make sense of the vocabulary they are reading, we provide them with opportunities to take meaning from what they are reading. As the text is shared, teachers ask high-quality questions to support the pupils with developing their understanding as they are guided to read for meaning. High-quality book talk is an important aspect of all LRR sessions. Lesson drop-ins take place to ensure that our high expectations are being upheld, and subsequently, that the pupils are achieving their maximum potential.
Each week, all pupils have the opportunity to read with an adult in their class. This 1:1 reading time is valued by the pupils who enjoy sharing texts with the adults in class. As an academy, we identify pupils who need support and provide intervention in the most effective and efficient way possible. Our targeted bottom 20% readers are heard read more frequently to ensure that gaps are closed, and all pupils achieve their maximum potential.
Demonstration reading sessions take place for daily. During demonstration reading, the teacher reads a high-quality age-appropriate book. The teacher uses a ‘think-aloud’ approach to model how an effective reader uses strategies to make sense of a text, for example, by discussing the author’s intent, asking questions as they read, confirming, and adjusting predictions considering new evidence, making links to their own experiences to draw inferences, and so on. This high-quality story time session allows pupils to share the enjoyment of listening to a book being read to them whilst further developing their thoughts about a broad range of books.
As an academy, we have invested in a set of read, write, inc. book bag books that pupils in early years and key stage 1 take home and read. These books are consistent with each pupil’s developing phonic knowledge and are taken home daily. Through reading a text that is closely matched to their phonic ability, our pupils regularly experience success in reading. We recognise the importance of reading and re-reading as an imperative factor to achieving fluency and automaticity in our pupils as readers. Additionally, the pupils are encouraged to read widely and for pleasure by taking home a text of their choice to share with a family member. Once pupils have progressed through the read, write, inc. programme, they become a ‘free reader’ and will take home an age-appropriate text of their choice. We regularly review the books pupils take home to promote an ambitious culture of improvement and progress. We encourage parents and carers to read with their child every night and ask questions to strengthen their child’s understanding of the text. All pupils have a reading diary and parents/carers are expected to make a comment to help support their child’s reading.
We have many incentives to encourage pupils to find their love for reading. Each week, we celebrate ‘reader of the week’ in our celebration assembly. The winner from each class receives a personalised Wrekin View bookmark. Our reading curriculum is enhanced through World Book Day, author visits and a range of trips to enrich and complement pupil’s learning. Through our subscription to the local library, we further promote a reading culture in the academy. High-quality texts are borrowed and made readily available for pupils to access during their independent learning time. This is something that is positively encouraged by all staff.
We run parent information sessions on early reading for reception parents/carers, phonics for year 1 parents, and SATS for year 2 and year 6 parents so that they fully understand the age-related expectations and how best to support their child. Additionally, we invite reception parents to our ‘Starbooks’ story time session at the end of each half term. This is an opportunity for parents/ carers to come and share a story with their child in school. These sessions are always well attended by parents/carers who often comment on how helpful the sessions have been.
Impact
- The pupils at Wrekin View have a strong desire to read and are able to do so confidently and competently
- All pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress towards meeting or exceeding age-related expectations
- Pupils are well-equipped with appropriate strategies that they can use to help them read unfamiliar texts
