Intent
Out of everything we do at James Oglethorpe, teaching reading is our most important job.
Our aim is to teach all children to decode unfamiliar words by the time they leave Year 1. From Year 2 onwards, we aim to teach children to read with fluency, expression and understanding and to use what they have read to broaden their understanding of the wider curriculum.
We aim to create a love of reading, by sharing daily high quality books with our children, by reading to and with them, and by supporting our parents to make reading an enjoyable part of their daily routine.
We choose books that make our children think and question. Our books both reflect the community in which the children live and introduce them to lives different from their own. Children read widely across the curriculum, in all forms, including non-fiction books, magazines and newspapers and digital formats.
Implementation
EYFS and Key Stage 1
Please see our SEND page for details of how ALL subjects are adapted to meet the needs of all pupils.
In this subject area, there are a number of specific adaptations made for our pupils:
– We use the Read Write Inc programme to deliver phonics which is already a very inclusive programme.
– Daily 1 to 1 tuition for phonics, reading fluency, spelling and letter formation- Keep up not catch up!
– Small group teaching in streamed groups
– Adapted resources e.g magnifiers, coloured paper, enlarged posters,
– Additional sounds practice lessons for those children struggling to form particular sounds
– Additional reading opportunities for those who do not have the opportunity to practice at home.
Read Write Inc & Phonics Teaching
At James Oglethorpe we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. RWI is a method of learning centred round letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing.
Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out.
Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.
When using RWI to read the children will:
- learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
- learn to read words using Fred Talk
- read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
- show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.
In addition to our welcome to the year meetings, and our regular RWI phonics parent meetings, below are some videos which will aid you to support your child at home on their reading journey as well as an outline of what is taught at each stage in RWI.
Key Stage 2
In Key Stage 2, pupils are also encouraged to develop a love of reading. We teach reading comprehension sessions from Year 2 onwards to ensure that children read age-related texts and answer V.I.P.E.R.S (Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise / Sequence) as our method to explicitly teach each skill. These whole class or group reading comprehension sessions are used as a powerful tool to allow all children to make progress in reading and provide regular and supportive opportunities for children to encounter engaging texts that will resonate with their interests and capture their imagination. Carefully graded questions allow for our children to develop their comprehension skills at an appropriate level.
Other opportunities for reading through the school include; reading challenges, bedtime stories nights, book fairs, visits from local authors and reading competitions.
Reading at Home
For our home reading scheme, pupils who are working within the Read Write Inc phonics reading scheme will take home a RWI book bag book, which is linked to their exact stage of learning in the phonics program.
Once pupils progress from the Read Write Inc program, we use the Oxford Reading Tree stages of reading to identify steps in children’s reading progress. The Oxford Reading Tree stages provide a consistent, progressive and challenging reading scheme for our pupils who have progressed from RWI reading at the end of year 1, through to stage 15/16 by the end of year 5. Children in Years 5 and 6 will be ‘free readers’ who are encouraged to choose age-appropriate, high-quality texts; however, should children still require the support of the reading scheme this will continue. In addition to this, we continue to use the RWI scheme for older children who may need this, and have a selection of high interest phonics books, which these children can access. All children visit the school library and are able to take home an ‘interest’ book, to read at home and share with a parent/ family member outside of school.
Reading is the most powerful tool in developing children as learners. With this in mind, at James Oglethorpe, we expect every child to read 5 times a week at home and this should be recorded into pupils’ individual reading journals.
Each week, these signatures are checked by staff and children who have read 5 times, have their names entered into the ‘Reading Wheel’. Each week, during celebration assembly, two names from each phase are chosen to from the Reading Wheel and they receive a reward and have their picture featured on our school Facebook page.
KS1 VIPERS Questions
KS2 VIPERS Questions
