Reading

At Rowlands Gill, we believe reading is key to the curriculum, language acquisition and is a hugely important life skill.

Upon entry to school, children are taught to read through a systematic and structured approach based around Read Write Inc. Phonics.

Phonics is taught to Early Years (Nursery & Reception) and Key Stage One children on a daily basis. Children are grouped according to their phonic knowledge and appropriate sounds are taught in a small group situation. These groups are assessed, and amended accordingly on a six-week cycle.

From this initial starting point, the children then go on to read a range of texts, both fiction and non-fiction, to give breadth and balance in developing their independent reading skills.

In addition, and to enable children to become confident readers with a love of reading, we have a variety of initiatives in place across the school:

 

• Until Year 2, pupils engage in daily story time. During story time, the class read a book together in a fun and engaging way. Adults will model good reading fluency and pupils will be given the opportunity to join in with reading, share their veiws or answer questions about the text at appropriate points in the session.
• In EYFS and KS1, children read an appropriately matched phonics or stage book with an adult on a 1:1 basis once per week.
• In Year 2, the class will transition from story time to guided reading. Children do daily guided reading sessions which are focussed around an age-appropriate whole-class text. This allows pupils to read, analyse, discuss and answer comprehension questions about a variety of texts, including novels, poetry and non-fiction texts, and developing their reading fluency and comprehension skills such as inference and deduction. These are teacher led lessons. The week will consist of a vocabulary lesson, a reading lesson and comprehension lessons which will focus on different strands of comprehension from the National Curriculum. This wil continue through KS2.
• Reading Plus – an online, individually tailored reading programme used by Year 6 pupils to improve reading speed, fluency and comprehension as well as giving children an opportunity to expand their reading preferences through a wide range of texts and genres and to help foster a love of reading. All Year 6 pupils will have the opportunity to learn with Reading Plus until the end of the Autumn Term, after which children who still need additional support will continue with the programme until the end of the year. From the start of the Spring term, pupils in Year 5 who need additional support with their reading, will have access to the Reading Plus programme until the end of the year.
• Quality Vehicle Texts are used to drive our English curriculum. This is in a bid to instil a love for reading but also presents pupils with the opportunity to learn from a diverse range of published authors from a variety of genres, cultures and time periods.
• In Nursery and Reception (EYFS), children have access to their own class library and take home a RWI book which is pitched at their reading level. Moreover, EYFS pupils take home two books per week to share with their family. Children in Key Stage One and Two take home either a stage or phonics book which is appropriate for their level, and a reading for pleasure book which they can choose based on their interests.
• Across school, pupils are encouraged to take their reading books home daily and are able to return and change their books when they are finished. In Key Stage One, it is recommended that pupils read their levelled book three-times before changing it in order to develop the children’s reading fluency.