Our Reading (including Phonics) Curriculum

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty, it should be offered as a gift.

 - Margaret Fuller

Where and when are children reading?

Children read a wide range of texts in all year groups. There are opportunities to enjoy reading and encounter new writing in:

• Daily guided reading lessons
• Daily phonics lessons – with a focus on decoding, recoding and blending
• Individual reading – with an adult, with a peer or independently
• Daily English Lessons – writing is inspired by carefully chosen texts
• Class readers – the teacher reads a book to the class
• Reading clubs – at lunchtime or after school
• Reading tuition – in groups before or after school
• Use of non-fiction resources across the curriculum for information and learning
• Use of the class reading corner
• Home reading of decodable books in EYFS/KS1 – reading a book matched to the child’s reading skills to an adult and talking about it
• Home reading of a book on the Accelerated Reader programme in KS2
• Home reading of Sharing Books – listening to an adult read the story or reading together

What are children reading?

These texts are taught in Guided Reading and English lessons.

Every class also focuses on a newspaper article and a non-fiction text relating to relevant curriculum areas each term.

Whole school texts, which are read by all classes at once, are rotated over a period of years and have included: Journey, Tuesday and And Tango Makes Three.

These school texts are supported by books children can take home to read or share. All books in school are chosen carefully so that every child can find a book that they have the skills to enjoy. We would recommend that parents read the books (especially in Year 5 and 6) as these books lead them into secondary school and have more grown-up themes and content designed to extend their knowledge and ideas of the world.  

Reading Stamina

We aim to build reading stamina so that children can read independently for increasing periods of time whilst maintaining comprehension and enjoyment of the text. This is important preparation for KS3 and 4. By Key Stage 2 this is communicated with children so they know they should try to read at home regularly for at least:

Year 3: 10 minutes

Year 4: 15 minutes

Year 5: 20-25 minutes

Year 6: 30 minutes.

Clubs like ‘Book and Biscuit’ support children to develop reading stamina.

Skills development

All reading opportunities develop skills. However, reading skills are taught specifically and explicitly in guided reading lessons. Learning objectives are drawn from the Planning Platforms toolkit (HfL) and ensure progression across year groups so that children leave Chambersbury with all the skills of fluent, analytical readers.

Guided reading lessons (daily in Y2 to Y6, 3x week in Y1) and phonics lessons (Nursery to Year 2) follow a teaching sequence each week to cover all skills appropriate to their year group and ensure a good pace of learning.

Guided Reading Plan Y2-6

Phonics plan

Phonics approaches have been consistently found to be effective in supporting younger pupils to master the basics of reading

 - The Education Endowment Foundation (July 2021)

We follow the National Curriculum using a systemic synthetic phonics programme called Essential Letter and Sounds.

Over their 4 years in EYFS/KS1, children will learn the six phases of phonics, alongside the National Curriculum requirements for spelling and grammar.

Lessons from Essential Letters and Sounds, and all phonics teaching, have a standard structure:

• Review
• Teach
• Practice
• Apply
• Review

They follow a weekly teaching sequence.

Assessment

The aims of assessment are ensure that children are making progress at a good pace, to inform planning and to identify early any children with specific difficulties or at risk of reading challenges.

Teachers keep daily assessment notes for all guided reading and phonics lessons to enable them to target support, address misconceptions and ensure all children are keeping up.

In EYFS/KS1, weekly assessment of learning in phonics sessions, and teacher assessment of how children are using and applying these skills, informs book matching for home reading and planning to help children keep up.

Children in EYFS/Y1/Y2 are also assessed in phonics using ELS's phonics tracking every half term as a minimum until all they are secure up to Phase 6. This is combined with teacher assessments of applied reading skills (eg in writing).

Reading is assessed using Accelerated Reader “Star Reader” tests every half term in KS2, and will be introduced for children moving securely beyond Phase 6 in Y2.

Children in Year 1-6 are assessed for school’s two data collection points using SATs style tests. If a child is not a fluent reader at any of these assessment points, alternative assessments may be used and adjustments made.

Adjustments and support

All teachers make reasonable adjustments for children with SEND in all teaching and learning as part of their high quality teaching practice. Phonics and early reading skills are taught beyond Y2 for children who need additional time on these skills.

In addition, children may take part in interventions to prevent them falling behind their peers or to address specific difficulties. Chambersbury only uses evidence based interventions. All interventions are short and focused to minimise time out of class.

Phonics interventions follow Essential Letters and Sounds. There are 3 programmes:

• GPC
• Oral Blending
• Blending for writing

In addition children may be supported by:

• Daily 1:1 reading with an adult in school
• Cued Spelling
• Precision teaching of HRS/HFW/GPC
• Precision teaching of spelling rules and patterns

Some children with higher support needs or specific difficulties or disabilities that make acquiring the phonological route to reading more challenging will have individualised curricula. These are co-ordinated by the SENCo with support of external professionals.

Speaking and Listening

Speaking and listening skills are essential to reading, as they are for all learning. They are developed throughout EYFS through their curriculum and daily opportunities for high quality talk with adults. This is especially important for beginning readers who do not yet have the fluency to broaden their vocabulary through reading and need an oral language focus or for children with a language gap (DfE Reading Framework Jan 22), and including learners with EAL.

We focus on building vocabulary in guided reading throughout the school, recognising the dynamic relationship between reading and language learning.

In language development we help children learn:

Tier 1 words: in daily high quality talk and general chat

Tier 2 words: initially through talk, but by KS2 children will need to be reading a wide range of books to encounter Tier 2 words at their level. They are unlikely to develop this vocabulary through everyday talk alone.

Tier 3 words: through reading ambitious high quality texts and ensuring that there is a focus on vocabulary building in all subject areas.

As children progress through the school they increase their oracy skills through discussion, debate and drama, as well as ongoing modelling of good dialogue by adults.

If children continue to find developing these skills difficult, adjustments will be made and children may take part in evidence based interventions. Some children with more extensive needs may work on programmes from Speech and Language Therapists.

And most importantly…

Love of reading

Love of reading is our aim for all children. The teaching of reading at Chambersbury is lovingly planned to bring our children the very best reading experiences combined with the skills they need to get the most out of those experiences. Children have regular opportunities to read for pleasure in school, hear stories read and celebrate reading through Book Week and other events. Class story time, where a teacher reads aloud with complete focus on the class, is an important part of children’s lives at Chambersbury. We provide opportunities to re-read books children have heard or shared: this increases emotional attachment to stories and greater engagement.

Class book corners are warm, inviting places to read where the books are the stars. They are designed to help children find the right book for them. We also want children to see themselves in our books, and so our books are increasingly chosen so children of all cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, families and lived experiences are included.

We know that reading fiction increases important qualities like empathy (Bal & Vetkamp, 2013) and tolerance (Capozze & Giovanni, 2014) and that reading widely and deeply is therefore key to ensuring our children grow up to be change-makers and assets to their community. Children who are able to ‘lose themselves’ in books will experience many different lives and perspectives beyond their own and we encourage, model and want this for our young people.

As children become more independent in their reading, we consider Pennac’s 10 Rights of the Reader and this is shared with children. Pennac says “You can't make someone read. Just as you can't make them fall in love, or dream”. We believe that our teaching of reading should help all children choose to read and that, with our guidance, children will discover a whole world of books to love, to laugh with or cry with, share their triumphs and challenges with and see those very human experiences reflected back at them.