Reading

Willington Primary School is determined that every child will learn to read, regardless of background, needs or abilities. We want our children to be fluent, confident readers. They will be exposed to a wealth of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction to develop their vocabulary, language comprehension and establish a genuine love of reading and a keen interest in a range of texts. We work to inspire children to become life-long readers, who have a desire to read for pleasure.

Every day, in every class, an adult reads aloud to the children. We choose a wide variety of texts from our reading spine, which has been designed so children can listen to a breadth of different genres and authors, whilst also developing a real love of reading. Where possible the book is above the level the children can access independently to expose them to more ambitious vocabulary. Teachers promote and display these books carefully in school and parents are kept informed about books we read and share. 

In order for the children to have the will to read, and be able to read to learn, they need to have secure skills in reading so that they can read with fluency and comprehension.

Learning to Read: Progression through our Reading Schemes

Children start reading at Willington Primary School, by learning to read following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.

(Please see Phonics and Early Reading webpage section for further details).

After children have demonstrated their ability to decode words, are able to read simple texts with appropriate fluency and have passed the statutory Phonics Screening Check (usually at the end of Year 1), they move on to coloured book banded reading books.

Book bands are a way of establishing a pathway of progression in reading so that teachers can match texts to children's individual abilities. Book bands commonly begin at lilac and are available up to black plus which are used in the higher primary years and into secondary schools.

Typically, children will start on the green or orange coloured book band within Year 2 and progress onto the lime book band before becoming a ‘free reader’. This means they can choose books from their class reading area or the school library. Teachers then guide children to select a variety of different genres and books written by different authors.

Children are not required to continue coloured banded books after the lime band, however each band from brown to black+, is a guide to the band for each Key Stage 2 year group, and teachers can use these books to supplement the choices the children are making to monitor individual progress.

Children read to adults individually on a regular basis according to their age and ability. Classes in Key Stage 2 also have daily, dedicated time for children to read to themselves and practise their reading independently.  

Whole Class Reading Lessons                             

As we aim for all of our children to read for pleasure, as well as supporting their learning across the curriculum, we explicitly teach reading comprehension lessons each week from Year 2 

A broad range of progressive reading materials are carefully selected to meet the requirements of the English curriculum and also, enhance learning in other topic areas. The selected high quality texts are read to or with the children, and provide an opportunity to teach children specific reading skills. Questions are planned by teachers in advance to help children to develop a greater understanding of a range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and other reading materials.

To ensure structure and consistency across the school and within lessons, we use the acronym VIPERS to explore elements of reading that support comprehension.

The reading domains we focus on are categorised under...

Vocabulary- word meaning/choice,

Inference and Interpretation,

Prediction,

Explanation,

Retrieval

Summarise and Sequence

Home Reading 

We encourage all children to read at home with an adult as part of our expectations for homework.

Children are expected to read at least five times a week and a record of their reading should be made in their Reading Record Book. The children should be encouraged to re-read sections of text or the whole of the text once they have completed it, in order to develop reading fluency and reading with expression. 

Our system is organised as follows:

• Reception and Year One Children take home the same book used in their Little Wandle phonics reading practice session.
• Children Year 2 and into lower Key Stage 2, take home at least one reading book each week, which is matched to their reading ability and reading age using ‘Book Banded Books’. 
• Children in Key Stage 2, who have moved onto free reading books which tend to be substantial chapter books and novels, are encouraged to change their reading book on a weekly basis, when appropriate.
• Children who are reading Little Wandle phonic scheme books or colour banded books, also take home a library book of their choosing. The purpose of the extra library book is to establish reading for pleasure and should be shared with the children- reading the book to and with them.
• We reward children with house points for reading at home.

In order to support parents/carers in reading with their children at home, each class teacher holds an information meeting at the start of the academic year.