Reading

Statement of Intent

At Tackley School, we believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them.  We want our children to establish an appreciation and love of reading at all stages of their learning journey and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our reading curriculum strives to foster a lifelong love of reading.  We encourage our pupils to discover new information and develop their comprehension skills by reading widely using both fiction and non-fiction texts.

By the time our pupils leave primary school, we envisage that they will be competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, seek out books from a range of different genres including poetry and engage in discussion about authorial choices or impact on the reader.

The reading curriculum is delivered through synthetic phonics, a linked approach to shared and guided reading, home reading, reading across the curriculum, regular opportunities for independent reading and hearing quality, challenging texts read aloud every day.

We understand the significance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills.  We endeavour to build a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to have the confidence to support their children with reading at home.

 

Implementation

At Tackley School, we understand a love of reading and the many skills we need to read should begin in our Nursery class within our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) unit.  Children listen to stories, join in with rhymes, play listening games and are exposed to a wide range of language and vocabulary, through a range of teaching and activities, daily.  We use the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme (NELI) for children who need extra support with the development of early language and vocabulary.

The systematic teaching of phonics has high priority in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. We use the synthetic phonics teaching programme, called Read Write Inc. (RWI) Phonics as a basis to teach our pupils to read and write. Pupils usually complete the programme by Year 2; some may even finish towards the end of Year 1. Pupils in Lower Key Stage 2 who need extra support with decoding may also follow the programme. We make sure that pupils can read the last set of phonics stories before they progress onto choosing their own reading books from the school selection.

Grouping is effective in ensuring success for all children and TAs are deployed and used to optimum effect. Children participate in phonics teaching, daily. Progress is continually assessed by the Phonics and Early Reading lead and children are grouped based on assessments carried out on a six weekly basis. Groups are flexible and children move between groups as a result of on-going assessment.

Children hear, share and discuss a range of high quality texts through our whole class English teaching, both in terms of fiction and non-fiction. Each class has a Reading Spine; a selection of high quality books, both classic and modern which are essential for children to be exposed to before moving onto their next class.  Our Reading Spine is a working document which is adapted each year to incorporate new and exciting texts.

Explicit teaching of reading takes place for 30 minutes, 4 times a week in Key Stage One and Two.  In EYFS a new text is introduced each week as a focus for the week where lots of activities to explore the text on a deeper level are incorporated into continuous provision and during focused group sessions.

We ensure children of all ages learn comprehension strategies and are able to respond to texts.

These reading lessons focus on the VIPERS reading areas;

• Vocabulary- discuss words and phrases
• Inference – inferring character’s thoughts, feelings and motives and finding evidence in the text of this
• Predict what might happen from details stated and implied
• Explain- Identify or explain how information or narrative content is related and contributes to the meaning as a whole.  Identify/explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases. Make comparisons within the text
• Retrieve information from the text.
• Summarise or sequence the main ideas from more than one paragraph.

 

We believe that quality texts should be available for all children to enjoy independently.  Recommendations are displayed in each classroom and each class visits the library in order to have the opportunity to borrow books to take home at least once a week.

Children are encouraged to read at home at least four times a week.  Each child from Reception to Year 6 has a reading diary, in which either their parents, or they themselves can record what they have read at home each day.  Children are rewarded using the whole school reward systems for reading at least four times a week.  When a child reaches a milestone number of reads they get a special mention in our Newsletter and for some milestones they get to choose given a brand new book for themselves.

We use Literacy Gold to support children at risk of falling behind the expected level for their year group and to support children who are behind to catch up and to develop fluency.

ARCh volunteer work in our school to give extra support to children who find reading challenging, building confidence and self-esteem over the course of a year.

 

Impact

We want to instill a love of reading in all children. By using engaging texts in English lessons and in learning across the curriculum, children are exposed to a range of genres and styles. By creating reading rich environments and celebrations across the school year, we want children to see that we are all readers and it is a skill we all need to learn.  As a result of this ethos and a rigorous approach to the teaching of reading, our children will:

 

• Read widely and often across the curriculum and be able to extract information from different genres of text. Children will be able to apply their phonics knowledge to decode unknown words and by re-reading texts, will gradually build their fluency.

 

• Reach their potential in all areas of the curriculum as they will be able to apply their reading skills to different subject areas.

 

• Learn vocabulary and gain creative ideas from fiction texts. After listening to inspiring stories, children will be able to transfer ideas into their own writing and be motivated to use higher level vocabulary, punctuation and cohesive devices.

Writing

Statement of Intent

At Tackley Primary School, writing is informed by a range of experiences and high-quality texts: it provides children with opportunity to develop skills in composition and transcription.  We understand that pupils become more effective writers when they have authentic reasons to write. Therefore, writing is taught with an awareness of the audience, purpose and context in mind, across all genres of writing, with opportunities planned to publish and share work with others. The writing curriculum at our school encourages children to immerse themselves in language rich texts, understand the features and impact of these different genres and realise the importance of them beyond education.

The teaching of writing is of paramount importance within a broad and balanced curriculum. Our aim is to ensure that every child within our school, leaves our school as a competent writer who has an understanding of the conventions of Standard English and when to use it effectively. This ability to write with confidence for a range of purposes and audiences ensures that children leave us fully prepared and ready to achieve their aspirations and thrive in their adult life.

Within our journey of writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar is interwoven into learning and explicitly taught with purpose for intended writing outcomes. We recognise the importance of cultivating a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. Across the school, we teach children to write effectively and coherently for different purposes and audiences.  In order for children to be able to do this, we immerse them in a rich-text environment that provides models and examples of high-quality writing which children can examine and explore. We use a text-based approach that is carefully planned and structured.

 

Implementation

At Tackley School the National Curriculum and EYFS Framework is used to inform the planning and delivery of the writing curriculum.  Writing is taught explicitly in daily literacy lessons and skills learnt are regularly reinforced within lessons across the curriculum. Using a combination of novels, film, poetry and relevant real-life events, learning is fun, meaningful and memorable. Having studied different texts, pupils immerse themselves in the language and structure of these to create their own toolkit – an aid to writing. This ensures that language patterns, punctuation and key phrases are internalised by the children so that they become confident and competent writers. Repeated practice of writing genres ensures that pupils leave our school capable of writing for different audiences and purposes.

The teaching of grammar and standard English is an integral part of every writing lesson and across the whole curriculum. Using the National Curriculum, key grammar and Standard English skills are taught progressively and systematically throughout the school.

Teachers model the process of writing within every English unit so that children understand the thought process behind writing. During this process, teachers think out loud, edit and demonstrate how and why they have structured their writing in the way that they have. Children are then given the opportunity to participate in a shared write, where everybody contributes to the writing outcome. This leads to independent writing of a final piece which is then edited.

Spelling is taught outside of English lessons, daily.  In Reception, Year 1 and at the beginning of Year 2 spelling is taught through the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics programme.  Once children have completed RWI (usually in Year 2) they move on to following the Spelling Shed scheme.  A range of strategies are used to ensure personable learning which supports pupils in becoming competent lifelong spellers. Accurate spelling is expected in all writing across the curriculum and children are taught and given time to edit their spellings and recognise their own errors.

In Reception and Year 1, children are taught letter formation and beginning writing as part of the RWI phonics programme.  Cursive handwriting is taught from Year 2 (after phonics has been completed). Children follow the school letter formation policy which is displayed in all classrooms.

 

Impact

Writing is formatively assessed throughout the teaching of a unit where teachers identify gaps and misconceptions and address them in the same or next lesson. Extended writes are used to identify any individual gaps or large areas of misconception. Feedback (either written or verbal) given to individuals, groups, or whole class as necessary.  Publishing (either in books or for display) their work is the final stage of the writing process.  One extended piece of writing is assessed thoroughly each term (six times a year) in order to understand each individual child’s strengths and areas for development.  The pupils’ writing is moderated in school meetings and with other schools to assess the impact of our teaching and the attainment and progress of the pupils.

 

The impact on our children is that they have the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a purpose and audience. With the implementation of the writing sequence being established and taught in both key stages, children are becoming more confident writers and have the ability to plan, draft and edit their own work. By the end of key stage 2, children have developed a writer’s craft, they enjoy sustained writing and can manipulate language, grammar and punctuation to create effect. As all aspects of English are an integral part of the curriculum, our English curriculum has an cross curricular writing standards as skills taught in the English lesson are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific language, grammar and punctuation.