Reading

Reading, early reading and Phonics at Clifford All Saints Primary School 

At Clifford All Saints we are determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities All pupils in our school, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age related expectations. (This is in agreement with the Ofsted inspection framework 2019).

In school we evaluate our reading provision based on the following criteria:

·        Is reading a priority in school?

·        How are we developing a love of reading?

·        Is our Phonics programme progressive and supportive and are children regularly assessed?

·        Do the books that we use match the sounds the children are reading?

·        Is phonics taught from the beginning of the year for our reception children?

·        Are children supported through intervention and able to catch up quickly?

·        Does the training provided by school enable staff to become early reading experts?

What is it like to be a reader in our school?

At our school we value every opportunity to encourage children to develop a love of reading. We do this through:

• Having a warm, engaging library space on both sites 
• Offering a diverse range of reading materials and working to ensure our reading books reflect our diverse school community offering a range of representations of race, disability and family structure. 
• Planning for quality reading lessons and opportunities throughout the day for children to read for pleasure
• Sharing quality texts with parents and developing our reading scheme across school
• Ensuring all children on the phonics scheme have access to a phonetically decodable book at their correct level following ongoing assessment. 

 Phonics at Clifford All Saints Primary School

 We teach phonics through the Letters and Sounds program. Our phonetically decodable book scheme is the Collins Big Cat Letters and Sounds Scheme. Appendix 1 shares the teaching order of the different phonemes through phonic phases and how these are shared in our phonics reading scheme. 

There is a clear, systematic approach to phonics and the children are assessed using a Letters and Sounds assessment. This is consistent across EYFS and KS1. Appendix 2

Structure for the teaching of phonics- Lesson Structure for 20 minute phonics lessons 

Whole Class Guided Reading at Clifford All Saints Primary School.

We use whole class guided reading as a structure across Clifford All Saints. It is introduced during Year 1 when the class teacher feels the class are ready. In year 1, the sessions might be in smaller groups at first. Assessment for younger childrenPM bench marking is used in KS1 to assess the children’s reading skills. 

Through Years 2-6, whole class guided reading is the approach used in reading lessons.

Where children are still on our phonically decodable book scheme, these children are read with at least 2-3 times a week.

Some older children who are not at age related expectations for reading are supported through our reading spines. In KS2 we have a selection of ‘high interest, low threshold’ books to engage more reluctant readers who are still working towards the expected standard in reading. 

Every day there is story time for at least 15-20 minutes.

Guided reading text

Each class will choose a quality text for their writing and reading topic. Wherever possible the children should have access to the text- either one each of shared if necessary. The text chosen should be high quality and have plenty of scope for reading activities.

Guided reading structure

This can change depending on the needs of the class and the text type that is being used. However, the main structure for whole class guided reading is as follows:

Reading assessment

Children are assessed against the national curriculum statements. These are on an excel spreadsheet so that staff can keep track of key objectives not covered or where there are individuals who need further support. The national curriculum underpins all of our assessment model. Appendix 3

PITA

Point In Time Assessment is the model used across school for assessment. 

We track the progress our children are making across our curriculum using PITA (Point In Time Assessment) judgements. They provide an ‘overview’ statement relating to an individual’s learning journey. 

Ongoing assessment measures what the children have been taught so far in line with curriculum expectations and coverage. Our ongoing aim is to increase the percentage of children who meet age related expectations. 

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