At Pirbright Village Primary School we recognise that English unites the important skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.  We recognise these as life skills, which enable us to make sense of the world. We aim for all children to become confident communicators as well as critical readers and writers with a capacity to express themselves through a variety of different literary activities.

Reading

Pirbright Village Primary School is determined that every child will learn to read, regardless of background, needs or abilities. We want our children to be fluent, confident readers. They will be exposed to a wealth of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction to develop their vocabulary, language comprehension and engender a genuine love of reading and a keen interest in a range of texts. We work to inspire them to become life-long readers who enjoy books and have a desire to read for pleasure. In order for the children to have the will to read, and be able to read to learn, they need to have secure skills in reading so that they can read with fluency and comprehension.

Reading is at the heart of our whole curriculum underpinning every subject area. We want every child to read widely, and to gain a rich knowledge across the curriculum. By offering a wide range of texts we aim to broaden their minds and experiences to allow them to empathise with the world in which they live and support the development of their cultural capital. Reading is such an important life skill that it is imperative we enable them to become independent readers who can easily process information, fully engage in all learning and be well prepared for their next stage of their education.

Phonics and Early Reading

We teach early reading through the systematic, synthetic phonics programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Right from the start of Reception children have a daily phonics lesson which follows the progression for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds and this continues in Year One to ensure children become fluent readers. We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

· Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.

· Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

The phonic programme meets expectations of the National Curriculum and Early Learning Goals with clearly defined expectations set out term by term. The phonic progression identifies the grapheme phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and tricky words taught every week.

All of our early reading books are aligned to Little Wandle Letters and Sounds and are fully decodable, following the progression in our phonic programme. When selecting a book for a child to read, we ensure that it is carefully matched to the letter-sound correspondences they have learnt, so they can confidently, and effectively, apply their phonic knowledge. Children continue to be taught phonics until they become fluent readers. Phonics is the way we teach decoding skills, in order to give children the most efficient method to

read words and one which will set them up for life. In the phonics sessions and throughout the day, children have opportunities to practise applying their phonic skills and to read words with the new grapheme, phoneme correspondence. This enables the learning to be committed to their long-term memory.

In EYFS and Year 1 there are regular reading practice sessions each week. In these sessions we teach the application of reading skills. The children read in groups with fully decodable books, carefully matched to the children’s phonic ability. Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

· decoding

· prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression

· comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

Each reading practice session will begin with a pacey review of graphemes, tricky words and practice of fluent reading of words which will appear in the book. The children will already know these from their phonic lesson, but the review will enable them to have these sounds and words at the forefront of their working memory. In the comprehension session the teacher will focus on a particular domain. There will be a common theme in each reading practice session of developing fluency. The children will read the same book in each of their sessions. They will then take home the book they have read at school after each reading session to practise reading fluently.

To further foster a love of reading, once children have a secure knowledge of the phonic code, they will have the opportunity to read a range of different books matched to their ability.

Further Reading 

Inspiring a life-long love of reading is key and children will still need support, even in Year 6, to make good choices and read quality literature. The school has a Reading Challenge which gives guidance to those children who will still benefit from structure in their reading choices. Regular reading for these children allows the adults in school to monitor their reading choices and ensure they are experiencing a degree of challenge to keep them motivated, but also allowing them to choose books which encourage practise and rehearsal of key reading skills so they become embedded.

Whole class guided reading provides a key element of reading instruction for children who have progressed from Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Books chosen are specific to each class and in this way, often change year on year. They are challenging in vocabulary and provide a rich opportunity for whole class discussion and a deep exploration of the text. Sometimes the texts are an extension of the topic being studied in the year group, if this meets the needs of the children, but are equally likely to be a text chosen for impact on the specific learners in the class and may be a little more “stand alone”. The school makes good use of VIPERS as a construct to analyse text and this is progressive in expected outcomes as children move through to Year 6.

Children who need some additional support to keep up with the reading in class will be targeted through intervention. Class teachers work with Learning Support Assistants to diagnose areas of need and then set intervention targets for small group instruction. Learning Support Assistants work with children which allows them to further practise their skills and refine their technique. These intervention groups provide data and feedback to teachers on a half-termly basis so they can be monitored for impact and adjusted as required.

Hearing children read on a regular basis at home will help them progress quickly with their reading and your support is so important with this. Children may be able to read aloud fluently but alongside this is the comprehension aspects, which need to be monitored and are just as important. Class teachers will always be on hand to support parents with reading at home and regularly send out guides in year groups about how to hear your child read. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information or support.

Teachers share their own love of reading with children at all available opportunities through class readers, encouraging parents to come to The Big Reads and by promoting the annual book fair with class wish lists. Class reading corners are well-stocked and the library has recently been renovated. Some children may even receive a special library pass for bonus reading sessions! Keen librarians ensure the library is always open and there is always a place for children to come and read at break and lunchtimes. At various points over the term, Story Time in The Library is held where adults read to any keen listeners during a lunchtime. Mystery Readers excite children throughout the day and involve parents/grandparents coming in at the end of the school day to share a story with children - it's always fun to guess who is coming in. Learning Champions for reading ensure good peer support for reading and the older children love helping the younger children by hearing them read, chatting all things books and supporting them to develop their skills. The school has a much beloved reading dog, Blodyn, who we are looking to welcome back after she had to take a break for health reasons.

Writing