Reading At Lily Lane Primary School
At Lily Lane we are determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. We aim to ensure children quickly develop a love of reading; choosing to read in the environment, choosing to read at home and choosing to use reading to learn.
Reading in EYFS and KS1
The school uses the phonics and reading programme of Read Write Inc. This programme matches and exceeds the expectations of the English national curriculum and early learning goals. We are making sure that children have the phonics knowledge, language comprehension and communication skills that will form the foundations of their future learning and will help them avoid falling behind.
The prioritisation of reading is all about ensuring that children are equipped with the skills they need to access the curriculum as a whole, regardless of their starting point.
All staff have clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress term by term, from Reception to Year 2, and the Read, Write, Inc phonics programme aligns with these expectations. Where children are not making the expected progress interventions will be put in place.
The school has invested in the Read, Write, Inc reading books for teaching. The sequence of reading books shows a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to the school’s phonics programme.
The assessment of pupils’ phonics progress takes place every 6-8 weeks. These assessments help to identify any pupil who is falling behind the programme’s pace, so that targeted support can be given immediately. These are through the use of 1-1 tuition sessions and some group sessions. All staff will also assess children earlier if it appears they are making better than expected progress so that they can be moved to a group that matches their ability.
At Lily Lane we have developed sufficient expertise in the teaching of phonics and reading that ensures consistency from one year to the next. There are weekly practice sessions with the reading leader for all who deliver Read, Write, Inc sessions. The reading leader also drops into sessions on a daily basis to coach and mentor members of staff to ensure there is consistency of teaching and also to set the high expectations that every child can learn to read.
All staff are confident in reading aloud stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction that develop pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and of course to develop the love of reading in all children.
KS2 Reading
In KS2 children are taught in whole classes following the Reading Gems Guided Reading approach. We ensure that we build on the foundations set out in EYFS and KS1. The prioritisation of reading is all about ensuring that children are equipped with the skills they need to access the curriculum as a whole, regardless of their starting point. All staff have clear expectations of reading progress term by term and, where children are not making the expected progress, interventions are put in place to accelerate progress.
The texts are appropriately selected to match the children’s attainment and their current topic to give them an opportunity for wider reading. The sessions are designed to support children with their vocabulary prior to reading the text so that they can access the text at a greater depth of understanding. The following sessions will then be used to close the gap for the children using one of the content domains as a focus for each session. The focus changes regularly based on both summative and formative assessments.
Each half term the groups are analysed and children are moved about as necessary to ensure the children are always able to access the learning taking place.
Impact of reading at Lily Lane School
At Lily Lane we want all pupils, including the weakest readers, to make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations or even better.
Children also want to read in our school through reading corners being in every classroom and a new Library which is being set up.
Ruth Miskin Parents’ Page:
http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/
Ruth Miskin Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education
Free e-books for home reading:
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/