Reading
Our Aims
It is our aim at Viewley Hill Academy to develop children’s reading skills in order to provide them with life skills and to promote reading for pleasure and enjoyment. Reading is the thread that runs through our entire curriculum and underpins all the other subjects we teach. We believe that reading can open doors through improved language and vocabulary skills, whilst also stimulating imaginations and curiosity. Our children are exposed to a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. We encourage our children to explore these during lessons, in their own time and at home. We aim to provide our children with a high quality reading curriculum so, that upon leaving primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently with understanding and confidence. We also want to equip them with skills to be good independent learners in the next stage of their educational journey.
Our reading lessons in school teach children the necessary skills to, not only decode unfamiliar words, but to develop other skills that are needed to become a successful reader (comprehension, retrieval, inference, vocabulary and fluency). We choose texts carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including those that reflect our community as well as those that give a window into the lives of others. Our books cover themes such as diversity, LGBTQ+ and other cultures.
We want all of our children to foster a love of reading. We do this through dedicated time for reading for pleasure, staff being reading role models and a strong emphasis on reading at home. We also have reading celebrations, ‘Read with Me’ afternoons for parents and beautiful reading displays around school.
Our Approach
Being exposed to ‘good reading’
There is an expectation that every teacher reads to their class daily so that children of all ages can enjoy story time. In addition to specific teaching of reading skills, children are given opportunities to further develop and refine their reading outside of their English lessons. Pupils have access to a wide range of appropriate reading material with a class library in each teaching room along with a school library throughout both buildings.
Having sound phonological awareness
In our youngest children, the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics, following the Little Wandle programme, enables them to learn the phonetic code and to apply understanding of letter sounds with the corresponding letter shapes (graphemes). Phonics teaching is a daily part of English throughout EYFS and KS1, including same-day intervention where needed. It is also used to support children throughout KS2 who may require additional support in securing these skills.
Developing fluency and comprehension
All children across school are heard read at least once in a week. In EYFS and Year 1 all children have Little Wandle Reading Practice sessions 3x per week to support decoding, fluency and comprehension. Additional support for comprehension takes the form of reading fluency for our older children.
Developing 3 core reading skills: to retrieve, to infer, to understand vocabulary
From Y2, reading is taught in reading skills lessons based on a quality text. These texts cover a wide range of genres and styles to engage the children in their reading. Activities are planned to support the children in their development of the three core reading skills.
For those children who reach Key Stage 2 who are not able to read sufficiently to access the curriculum fully, they are supported with additional reading 1:1, Phonics sessions using Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up.
How do we know what the children need?
All children are assessed in their reading. The form of assessment is different depending on the age of the children. For those children accessing Little Wandle, we do half termly assessments that are uploaded to the Little Wandle Assessment Tracker. From Y2 upwards, children complete a termly LET fluency assessment that includes elements of comprehension. Our KS2 children also complete an NFER reading assessment once a term.
Early Years Reading and Phonics with Little Wandle
Below are resources and documents for early years reading. The phonics scheme used within school is called Little Wandle.
Useful Links for Phonics at Home
- Phonics Bloom: https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/list/phonics-games-phase-3
- Phonics Play: https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
- Top Marks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds
- Letters & Sounds: https://letters-and-sounds.com/
- Alphablocks: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks
- Teach your Monster to Read: https://www.teachyourmonster.org/
- Mr Thorne does Phonics (YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7sW4j8p7k9D_qRRMUsGqyw
