At South Wilford, we focus on three key areas of reading. Click on the links below to learn more about each of these areas.

Reading at South Wilford

Intent

We make it our priority to ensure that every child learns to read by the end of Key Stage 1. We aim to create fluent readers who monitor and self-correct, understand what they read and read for enjoyment and pleasure.
We are committed to help children find enjoyment in reading and to appreciate how books can offer a window to other worlds, meet amazing characters and learn about the world they live in. We choose books with important and diverse themes that help to build on their cultural capital and knowledge. Through our carefully created Reading Spine and whole class shared reading lessons, we ensure that children leave South Wilford having been exposed to a wide range of world-class literature. Our children leave school prepared for whatever future lies ahead of them.

Implementation

Phonics - High quality phonics is taught daily from EYFS to Year 2. We have a consistent Structured Synthetic Phonics Programme (Rocket Phonics) across school and we are confident that our approach will ensure success for all, particularly, the lowest 20% of pupils. Early Phonics interventions are put in place throughout
EYFS and KS1 with the aim of children "keeping up" rather than "catching up". Phonics interventions also occur in KS2 for those children who still need phonics support.

Our Reading books are fully phonetically decodable up to orange book band to allow children to apply their phonic knowledge and practise their blending skills.

Whole Class Shared Reading - Whole class reading is introduced towards the end of Year 2 and is continued across KS2. This approach is based on the work of Doug Lemov and the Transform Trust. Daily shared reading sessions improve children's ability to understand challenging texts through carefully selected novel studies as well as focusing on the key reading skills and strategies (VIPERS) required to be confident readers. Linked texts in lessons include poetry, picture books, non-fiction, modern and classic novels, inspiring biographies, song lyrics and famous authors.

Reading fluency is also taught as part of whole class reading lessons using echo, choral, paired, repeated and theatrical reading. These skills are also woven into other areas of the curriculum to support children when reading beyond explicitly taught reading lessons. 

Classes study 3 core texts in detail over the course of the year. They study the author, the themes, characters, settings, vocabulary, story arcs and compare the book to others. These core texts are read to support the wider themes of the curriculum, expose children to challenging and interesting texts and are also used during whole class shared reading. To give ownership to the children's learning, classes are also able to vote for a novel from a range of carefully chosen texts 3 times a year. Our texts are chosen using the following criteria. 

     DISCOVER (Y3-6)                    EXPLORE (Y3-6)                   BELONG (Y3-6)

Reading for Pleasure - We understand the importance of 'Reading for Pleasure' and are fully committed to supporting children in discovering the joy of reading. We have so much to share about it that we need a whole extra part of the website to explain what we do! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE!

For more information about reading at South Wilford, including interventions and assessment, check out our ebook! 

Impact

We are incredibly proud of how well our children perform during the statutory assessments. This also includes how high our children from disadvantaged backgrounds, children with English as an additional language and our SEND children achieve. This data can be seen here: 

OFSTED AND PERFORMANCE DATA

However, we believe that reading is key to all learning, and so the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the result of statutory assessments. Our children have the opportunity to enter the wide and varied magical worlds that reading opens up to them. Through the teaching of systematic phonics, reading lessons and becoming absorbed in a culture of reading for pleasure, our aim is for children to become confident, fluent and life-long readers who can apply their knowledge and experience to a range of texts through the Key Stage 2 curriculum and ultimately help children to become more empathetic and understanding as they move into secondary school.