Reading

 

READING AT VICTORIA ROAD PRIMARY SCHOOL

At Victoria Road Primary School, we endeavour to create a lifelong love of reading. There is considerable evidence that RfP and reading engagement are strong predictors of reading attainment and attainment in maths, spelling and vocabulary.

 

Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success – OECD 2002

 

We are very mindful of the above statement as we wish to create the best life chances possible for our children.

 

 INTENT 

 

We strive to be a school where reading is embedded in every aspect of what we do. Throughout their time at Victoria Road Primary School children will develop their reading skills by exploring a wide range of quality texts both in reading lessons, in less formal situations and right across the curriculum.

Our Reading Curriculum is designed to be progressive, well thought out and to provide a rich reading diet for our children.  

We work towards developing a strong Reading for Pleasure ethos in our school. Our intention is for all our teachers to be ‘Teachers as Readers’, understanding children’s reading lives, sharing their own reading practices and preferences and having dedicated sessions in which children can read for pleasure. 

In this way, we aim to focus our lessons and Reading for Pleasure sessions on ensuring each child develops their reading as much as possible while they are in our care.

 

IMPLEMENTATION

The reading curriculum is led and overseen by the reading lead. Teachers use real books and texts wherever possible to plan daily reading lessons. Sequences of lessons will focus on particular reading skills for each year group, with learning building throughout the week and and an emphasis put on the development of fluency for each child. Reading is taught in mixed ability classes where scaffolding, timely intervention and individual support help those children who may struggle with a particular skill. Some children who have been identified with a specific need will attend targeted support sessions. Within any lesson, any child who grasps a concept or skill quickly will be challenged with deeper, richer questions. 

Other reading opportunities will take place in other areas of the curriculum, such as history, geography and science. In addition to this, Reading for Pleasure sessions take place in all classes once a week. Classes have also developed their own reading spines which ensure all children listen to and discuss at least six carefully chosen quality texts in reading time each year which also builds on the children’s cultural capital. 

We strive to involve parents as much as possible with their child’s reading, holding reading family learning sessions and a Reading for Pleasure Event every year. 

 

IMPACT 

By the end of their time at Victoria Road, pupils will have experienced a range of high quality texts and reading experiences. They will have been part of a reading community which puts a high value on reading. They will have learned how to be secure in their reading identities and how to use their reading skills effectively in a wide range of situations.

Impact of reading is measured through assessment as well as book monitoring termly and pupil voice.

 We want every child to be able to:

 

  • Read with fluency and expression
  • Develop good reading stamina
  • Engage positively with reading
  • Develop strong reading identities and a positive self-image
  • Develop good working comprehension strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, summarising, using inference and activating prior knowledge 
  • Be empowered to make their own reading choices
  • Be part of a strong reading community, using reading to connect to others 
  • Transfer reading skills across the curriculum
  • Develop reading skills which will help to enrich their life

 

If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: 

  • Tracking of ability through banded reading books
  • Pupil discussions about their reading.
  • Reading responses, both oral and written
  • Testing
  • A cycle of work that gradually releases scaffolding and promotes independence/self-regulation.

 

Assessment is an on-going priority and we work closely to moderate work with each other and across trust/cluster schools.

 

Reading next steps

To work with our less ‘hooked’ readers to increase engagement with and enjoyment of reading using a targeted, personalised approach.

To refine our reading curriculum ensuring full coverage and strong links with writing and the wider curriculum. 

 

 

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Victoria Road Primary School
Victoria Road, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 5RE
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