Reading
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”
Children learn great fluency, skills and attitudes to reading.
Intent
Reading is a vital form of communication for everyone. In developing the skill of reading, children gain access to and derive pleasure from rich and varied sources of literature and a wide variety of facts and figures contained within non-fiction. The ability to read and interpret the written language is a fundamental skill for accessing all other areas of the curriculum and is an essential life-long skill.
Key to improving outcomes in all subjects is fostering a love of reading. There is substantial evidence to show how reading impacts on a wide range of issues, including attainment, mental health, economic wellbeing and relationships.
When teaching reading and associated reading skills, we aim to raise and/or sustain pupils’ levels of attainment / achievement in reading throughout the school by developing a number of attitudes and skills:
| Principally, we want our children to enjoy reading. We aim to develop, through our teaching of reading, the following attitudes: |
Through all processes involving the teaching of reading, the following knowledge and skills will be developed: |
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● curiosity and interest ● pleasure ● sensitivity ● critical appraisal ● independence ● confidence ● perseverance ● respect for other views and cultures ● reflection ● appreciation of the feelings and cultural experiences of others |
● phonic decoding ● fluency with expression and clarity ● understanding vocabulary ● understanding of sentence structure and punctuation ● comprehension, inference and implication ● obtaining information quickly ● understanding key features of different texts ● critical reflection ● interpretation of authors’ language, meaning thoughts and feelings ● performance of poetry, song etc |
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Implementation
Reading is prioritised to ensure ALL pupils, including those with SEND, access the full curriculum offer.
Early Reading
- Early reading ensures our children gain both phonics knowledge and language comprehension through the delivery of Read, Write, Inc.
- In EYFS, we begin developing positive attitudes to reading through at least daily texts, modelled aloud. All adults are reading role-models, demonstrating positive attitudes to reading. Opportunities to read and engage with texts can be found throughout the areas of provision.
What do we read?
- Reading happens in a variety of ways: reading lessons, phonics lessons, Class Novels and cross-curricular reading (eg in a Learning Challenge or Science lesson). See Reading Policy for more details.
- Children read a balanced range of texts, including class novels, poems, extracts, picture books and non-fiction. These texts are chosen to link with our Learning Challenges, to develop cultural capital, or to reflect the diversity of modern Britain (see Reading Policy).
How do we teach reading?
- Reading for pleasure is promoted through adult role models, choice of texts, varied and engaging lesson activities and one-off events.
- There is a sequential approach (see Reading Policy) to the reading curriculum to ensure development of fluency, confidence, skills and enjoyment.
- An emphasis is placed on developing reading fluency through explicit teaching of vocabulary, repeated re-reading and other fluency-specific strategies such as echo or choral reading.
- Our 5-step approach to whole-class reading develops children’s fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills.
- Those currently finding reading particularly challenging receive additional reading practice and/or support. This may be through daily or regular reading 1:1 with an adult, small group fluency session or comprehension-based interventions.
Through CPD and other support, leaders improve teachers’ pedagogy, understanding and appropriate use of assessment. Assessment allows us to identify and support pupils either through catch up interventions or differentiation. This ensures that every member of staff provides high quality teaching.
Impact
At St Anne's, we love reading!
Speaking to children, looking at books and being part of lessons, we know:
- children are reading widely and often
- books are generally well-chosen to match the current reading attainment of the children
- KS1 children’s books match their position in RWI
- lessons are taught well, are engaging and appropriately challenging
- lessons develop reading skills over time
- most children enjoy reading
We're really proud of the attainment and progress that children make during their time at our school. Progress at the end of Y6 in 2023 was 'Well Above Average' (measuring 5.16, using DfE figures).
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Attainment Headlines |
2019 |
2022 |
2023 |
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EYFS |
Word Reading |
School: 76% National: 77% |
School: 82% National: 75% |
School: 78% National: |
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Comprehension |
School: 86% National: 80% |
School: 100% National: |
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Writing |
School: 76% National:77% |
School: 79% National:77% |
School: 78% National: |
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Listening, Attention and Understanding |
School: 83% National: 82% |
School: 82% National: 80% |
School: 78% National: |
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Speaking |
School: 90% National: 73% |
School: 79% National: 68% |
School:78% National: |
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Phonics |
Year 1 |
School: 80% National: 82 % |
School: 87% National: 75% |
School: 90% National: 79% |
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Year 2 recheck |
School: 81% |
School: 50% |
School: 100% |
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KS1 |
Expected standard |
School: 77% National: 75% |
School: 59% National: 67% |
School: 65% National: 68% |
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Greater depth |
School: 35% National: 25% |
School: 28% National: 18% |
School: 35% National: 22% |
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KS2 |
Expected standard |
School: 74% National: 73% |
School: 83% National: 74% |
School: 100% National: 79% |
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Greater depth |
School: 38% National: 27% |
School: 40% National: 28% |
School: 50% National: 29% |
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What do children learn in phonics and reading lessons?
The following document outlines expectations for the end of each year group. This is effectively the National Curriculum but put into themed boxes, making it easier to compare across year groups.
What do children read at St Anne's?
In EYFS, we read a range of texts following children's interests. As such, there is no 'plan' for what to cover - we allow children to inspire our choices. This will include songs and rhymes, fairy tales, poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
In Y1-Y6, we follow a long-term plan for what texts we read with children, in order to ensure a balanced diet of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, as well as full texts, extracts and picture books. As new books are released throughout every year, this plan is updated regularly.
Helpful Documents
If you're looking for ideas on how to make reading more interesting and engaging at home, have a look at this bank of ideas: