Intent
At Troon School we believe that there are three aspects to reading; teaching of reading, reading within the curriculum and reading for pleasure. Stories bring us closer together, create shared experience, memories and common bonds which is why Troon CP School places reading at the heart of the curriculum.
We intend that our pupils will be both independent and reflective readers who can read fluently and for meaning.
We believe subject specific material is fundamental in growing the knowledge, vocabulary and ideas needed across the curriculum. We recognise the importance of carefully selecting the texts pupils are exposed to and ensure that children have the chance to read widely across the curriculum.
We know that hearing high quality texts being read aloud is the most efficient way of exposing pupils to language and terminology that they are not likely to encounter in everyday life. It is our intention to provide a platform for this new knowledge for pupils through our reading provision.
Implementation
Early reading is prioritised in EYFS and KS1. We follow the Read, Write, Inc program which is a systematic synthetic phonics program with a mission to ‘teach every child to read and write, and to keep them reading. No exceptions.’ The reading leader ensures that the scheme is carefully followed and that children are regularly assessed. Tutoring is used effectively to ensure children ‘keep up not catch up’. The Fresh start program is used for those children in Year 5 and 6 who may need additional support to read fluently and accurately.
When children have completed the Read Write Inc program reading is developed through daily whole class reading lessons, using high quality texts and focussed skill teaching. In whole class reading lessons, children develop their key reading skills of decoding; Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising (VIPERS). Children also continue to develop their reading fluency skills, building upon their phonics knowledge and skills. The Accelerated Reader, a research-based program, is aimed to motivate, monitor and manage children's independent reading. It ensures children are reading books that are tailored to their individual needs and engages students in quizzes and activities helping hone students’ reading skills.
Troon CP School has a whole school fiction, poetry and nonfiction reading spine. We want to be a school where:
“children are read to, enjoy, discuss, and work with a core of around 80 books. These ‘essential reads’ would be a store of classics, creating a living library inside a child’s mind” Pie Corbett, Literacy expert.
We therefore ensure that a session for sharing a class reader is planned into each day and encourage sharing books as much as possible throughout the day. Songs, nursery rhymes and poems are carefully selected and ‘rhyme time’ is built into each of our nursery sessions. The school library showcases high quality texts with displays regularly refreshed to spark interest and curiosity.
Pupils are encouraged to read at home every day and they are expected to record this in their reading record book. Research shows that parents who take time to read with their children at home improve the reading standards of their children significantly therefore emphasis is placed on supporting parents through reading workshops and information events. Rewards are given to support reading at home using star charts, reading tea parties, and reading karate bands.
Impact
By the time children leave Troon CP School, they are competent readers who are able to read with accuracy, speed, confidence, fluency and understanding, ready to access the secondary school curriculum. All pupils make at least good progress from their starting points. Children will be passionate about reading and will recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres and eagerly participate in discussions. Children will highly value reading as an enjoyable social activity and our class reader times will reflect the words of Michael Morpurgo:
“Let there be a half an hour of story time at the end of school in Primary schools. Make this the half an hour they all long for, that they don’t want to be over. Let the children go home dreaming of the story, reliving it and wondering.”
