Reading

Reading Intent

At Rise Park Primary and Nursery School, our intent is to provide a Reading curriculum that fosters a life-long love of reading in our pupils through them listening to and interacting with a wide variety of high-quality literature. Our leaders prioritise the teaching of both word reading, to ensure that our pupils become fluent readers, and the development of reading comprehension, to ensure that our pupils understand what they are reading. This is achieved through a consistent approach to the teaching of reading in order to quickly identify and close any gaps that our pupils might have. We want our pupils to understand that reading is a transferrable skill that they can use to access information across the curriculum, and we want them to value reading as a life-skill, as we believe that reading is the key to academic success.

Aims:

To develop fluent, confident and independent readers through a consistent approach to phonics in which children keep up, rather than catching up.
To encourage pupils to become enthusiastic readers through engaging with and responding to a variety of high-quality texts across the curriculum.
To further develop pupil’s fluency – developing their confidence to read aloud with expression.
To develop and extend pupil’s vocabulary through shared reading and listening to stories.
To raise the standards of reading throughout the school, especially for our most disadvantaged pupils, and ensure that our lowest 20% of pupils are able to become fluent readers.
To ensure that all pupils enjoy reading and are able to choose books that engage their imagination and develop their interests.
To ensure that all pupils make rapid progress from their starting points in reading to achieve expected or greater depth standards by the end of Key Stage 2.

‘Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, or a duty. It should be offered as a gift.’ Kate DiCamillo

As a school, we believe that creating a culture of reading is a vital tool in ensuring our children are given the best life chances. Cultivating readers with a passion for a wide range of materials will ensure that children’s love of reading will extend far beyond the classroom and allow them to build on their skills independently through a real curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

On this page you can find examples of how to read with your child; see some of our exciting book corners, which the children have in every classroom, and have a look at some of our recommended reads for each year group that your child might enjoy.

See what our children think of reading at Rise Park:

Michaelle – ‘I am a good reader because I can sound words that I don’t know. Teachers help us to be good readers by asking us questions about stories.’

Noah – ‘If I get stuck on a word, then I can use my robot arms to sound it out and blend it. We learn how to do this in phonics, which makes me a good reader.’

Harlow – ‘My favourite book is Stickman because it makes you sad, but then at the end you are happy again.’

Jazara – ‘I love to read funny books by authors like David Walliams and David Baddiel. These are some of my favourite authors.’

Kaden – ‘I like to read poems and comic books. I use my reading ruler, and this makes it easier for me to read.’

Reading in the classroom

In F2, reading takes place in small guided reading groups using relevant Big Cat Collins phonics books. These sessions take place at least three times a week, and children are encouraged to read the book aloud and are engaged in their understanding of the text through teacher questioning. Children in EYFS also take part in ‘Read and Respond’ lessons focused around one book a week. This book will often be linked to their topic, and the children will then take part in activities linked to the book during their free-flow time.

In Year 1, reading takes place through the ‘Read and Respond’ approach. This is focused around one book a week, which is shared with the children as a class. During this time, the teacher asks the children questions to check their understanding, and then the children take part in an activity focused around retrieval, vocabulary or sequencing. Children also have daily phonics lessons using the Pearl Phonics scheme. In the Summer term, Year 1 switch to teaching reading like in Years 2-6 to prepare them for the transition to Year 2.

In Years 2-6, reading is themed around different aspects of the reading curriculum. On the first week, children explore a poem or song – looking at the vocabulary and inferences within it. At the end of this week, they answer a ‘Big Question’ based on the song theme. In the middle weeks, children take part in reading lesson every day using one focused text a week. Each child has a copy of this text, and it often links to one of their curriculum topics or to their interests as a class. The children spend Monday investigating, reading and understanding the text. On Tuesday, they investigate and learn new vocabulary from the text. Wednesday is focused on retrieval skills – answering questions or completing a retrieval activity. On Thursday, children focus on their inference and explanation skills and on Friday they end with answering a range of comprehension questions about the text they have been fully immersed in throughout the week. Towards the end of the half-term, children explore a picture book – looking at the vocabulary and inferences within it. At the end of this week, they answer a ‘Big Question’ based on the book theme. In the final week of the half-term, children complete a question-answer analysis, based on a test that they have already completed to allow them to understand how to answer comprehension questions accurately.

In English lessons, children read whole chapter or picture books which in turn help to inspire their writing.

Y1 Y6 Progression In Reading

Y1 Y6 Reading Long Term Plan

SEND

The bottom 20% readers in each year group are read with 1:1 at least three times a week with a midday supervisor, teacher or TA. If children are unable to access the text being completed in lessons, then they will have a separate phonics or reading activity, or may read in a smaller group with an adult during these sessions. Children who are struggling with their reading may also take part in the daily ‘Toe-by-Toe’ intervention to help with their sight reading. Reading also forms part of SEND children’s BSquared targets, which they work on at least twice weekly in a small group to ensure that they have dedicated time to work on their individualised targets.

Assessment

Reading is formally assessed every term using a different year group reading assessment for each term. This allows teachers to assess what children have retained and how they can use their reading skills independently. Children are also encouraged to work on reading comprehension skills more independently every Friday, and in this time, teachers can address and close any gaps or misconceptions.

Modelling Reading

Reading for pleasure

All children within school take home a banded reading book from the school library each week. The book that they choose does not have to be one that they can decode, but could be a book that their parents read to them. For our younger readers in Key Stage 1, and for our readers who need a little bit more support, their banded books (from pink through to turquoise) are fully decodable. Teachers who have children on these book bands choose the book for them, to ensure that they have a book that they can fully decode.

Each year we celebrate World Book Day, where lots of different activities take place, such as book swaps and children across school sharing their favourite books with each other. We also have a carefully curated Book Fair in school twice a year so that children are able to come into school and buy a book of their choice. We use the money raised from this to buy new books for our class and school libraries, making sure that children have opportunities to select and request books that they would like to see on our shelves.

Regular whole class story time takes place across all year groups. Each class is allowed to choose a book that they want to read, or their teacher may recommend some books for them to choose from. Teachers find a time to read this book at least three times a week, which is usually at the end of the day for at least ten minutes.

The reading for pleasure lead runs a book club each half term for different year groups. Within this club, all children receive a copy of the same text and they read some extracts together within the club. They are then encouraged to go home and read more of the book either independently or with an adult. When they next attend the club, they then take part in book talk and discuss their likes and dislikes.

There are also other activities and incentives that happen throughout the year that encourage the children to read for pleasure, such as ‘Bedtime Book Boxes’ and ‘Bookmas’. In addition, there are Year 6 Peer Readers, who are our top role models for reading. They help younger children, who have been chosen by their teachers, by reading with them on a weekly basis and supporting them with their word recognition. School librarians help to keep the Key Stage 2 libraries tidy so that children can select books with greater ease.

Parental engagement

We work in partnership with parents so that our pupils develop a love of books and reading. Daily reading at home and at school ensures children make good progress in developing reading skills, whatever their age.

Children are expected to read at home frequently throughout the week and a record of this must be made in their Home-School Diary at least three times each week. These are checked and signed weekly by the teachers, who will speak to parents if a child is not reading regularly at home. If they continue not to read at home, teachers make the reading leads aware, who offer support to these children and their families in order to improve the amount of out-of-school reading. Children who do not read at home are read with 1:1 in school.

We also hold events in school each year, which are often held within Key Stages, where parents are invited to celebrate reading with their child. Past examples have included a KS2 World Book Day family event, a book swap shop and KS1 reading cafés.

Reading Lists

Please find below a list of recommended books to read with your child at home from Reception to Year 6.

Reception

F2 Non Fiction Reading List

F2 Reading List

Key Stage One

Year 1 Non Fiction Reading List

Year 1 Reading List

Year 2 Non Fiction Reading List

Year 2 Reading List

Lower Key Stage Two

Year 3 Non Fiction Reading List