At Manor Court Community Primary School, we seek to ensure that children are supported to be confident, lifelong learners with a love of reading. Reading plays a very important role in developing children culturally, emotionally, spiritually and socially and we believe literature plays a key role in such development. Reading enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and build on what they already know.
Word reading – the ability to decode words- is taught using the synthetic phonics scheme ‘Jolly Phonics’. Any child who is finding it difficult to learn to read is identified through regular and ongoing assessments and is given additional interventions.
In the EYFS, pupils take part in small group carousel reading to an adult every day. From Year 1 to Year 6, children take part in daily Guided Reading sessions where the whole class share the same text with a specific focus. Our main aim is to ensure that children are developing their decoding and comprehension skills within these discussions and independent activities. Teachers are able to scaffold the children in their learning by stretching their depth of understanding within a text.
Children are heard reading on a 1:1 basis once a week by their class teacher and Learning Support staff. Those pupils not at an expected reading level are heard daily. We are fortunate to have a community of volunteers who also listen to our children read.
Good comprehension draws from linguistic knowledge and on knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world they live in, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Every classroom at Manor Court Community Primary has a Word Wall that celebrates exciting and subject-specific vocabulary. Dictionary skills are developed from Year 1 and all pupils have access to their own dictionary.
Key Stage 1 reading books follow a clear progression of banding, ensuring fluency is developed. All books show fidelity to the ‘Jolly Phonics’ scheme. Children who progress to free readers are able to choose their own book from their classroom bookcase, and have access the school library where they can be supported to select books by adults. Pupils are encouraged to take home fiction and non-fiction texts.
Children are expected to read at home daily as this helps to develop confident and fluent readers. Children’s reading logs are checked to ensure this is taking place. Where children are not reading the required amount in school, they are invited to attend a lunchtime book club. There is also opportunity to read to a member of staff at Homework Club and at our wrap-around care.
Children identified as being ‘gifted and talented’ have regular opportunities and experiences to extend and develop their learning and strengths. The school has close links with the local bookshop and library, and all children visit the town library every term. “Chatterbooks Club” - an initiative formed by the Reading Agency, takes part once a month for our more able readers, run by local librarians.
World Book Day is celebrated annually at Manor Court Community Primary School, alongside half termly author focuses, and visits from local published authors.
Half termly ‘Rock Up and Read’ sessions encourage parents and carers into school to support their children with their reading. Our staff have been recorded reading their favourite stories too and these are shared on the school’s website and social media outlets for pupils to listen to at home.
Phonics is closely tracked from EYC. Pupils take part in a Phonic Screening assessment in the Summer A term when in Year 1. This data is compared locally and nationally.
Salford reading tests are carried out twice a year, allowing 6 months to make accurate assessment of progress in fluency and comprehension.
Reading is assessed each half-term for all pupils using a mixture of formative and summative teacher assessment. Pupils are assessed against the National Curriculum for their particular year groups. Pupil progress is analysed in Pupil Progress Meetings each term and target pupils are then identified and shared with Phase Leaders. A plan is then devised by the class teacher to meet the additional needs of those pupils. Their progress is then monitored by Phase Leaders over the following term.
Through careful monitoring and tracking, practitioners are able to identify children who are not making the expected progress and therefore need intervention to catch up. Depending on the needs of individuals, this may include specific phonic support, or additional individual or small group tutoring. It is important that children who are struggling to learn to read not only need to catch up with their peers, but also to continue to make progress.
Our aim at Manor Court Community Primary School is that every child’s needs are catered for and every child is given the chance to succeed and become a competent reader. It is our aim to give every child the opportunity to experience success in learning and to be the best that they can be. Differentiated work, appropriate to individual children’s needs, is provided in the independent work during the day and also during intervention sessions. S.E.N.D pupils have Learning Passports and APDR documents, which may include specific literacy targets. If pupils are working significantly below that of their year group, teachers will plan for their individual needs, taking learning from NC objectives or p-scales if appropriate. Teachers, leaders and support staff are aware of the lowest 20% of children in the class to ensure support is given to allow children to achieve to their fullest and overcome any barriers to their learning.
All pupils are assessed at appropriate intervals as they progress. Foundation Stage pupils are tracked using a phonic tracker, and also on the amount of sight words they can read. Pupils in Year 1 – 6 take Rising Stars assessments. Year 2 and 6 are prepared for the SATS with mock papers. All pupils from Year 1 – 6 have a Salford Reading Test.
During daily sessions of guided reading, there are opportunities for practitioners to regularly assess children’s understanding. Outside of these lessons, there are numerous opportunities for pupils to apply their reading skills, across all areas of the curriculum.
Regular monitoring of the assessment outcomes allows teachers and practitioners to ensure that all children are making expected progress. This information is also used to identify children who are not making expected progress and therefore early intervention can be put in place.
Children’s reading assessments are added to a tracker and monitored by the English Lead teacher, Phase Leaders and Senior Leadership team.
Through careful monitoring and tracking practitioners are able to identify children who are not making the expected progress and therefore need intervention to catch up. Depending on the needs of individuals, this may include specific phonic support, developing skills of comprehension and additional individual or small group tutoring. It is important that children who are struggling to learn to read not only need to catch up with their peers, but also to continue to make progress.
Our aim at Manor Court Community Primary School is that every child’s needs are catered for and every child is given the chance to succeed and become a competent reader. It is our aim to give every child the opportunity to experience success in learning and to be the best that they can be. Differentiated work, appropriate to individual children’s needs, is provided in the independent work during the day and also during intervention sessions. S.E.N.D pupils have Learning Passports, APDR documents and IEPs, which may include specific literacy targets.