Reading
At Malpas Alport, we place high value on reading and aim to develop a love of reading from a very young age. Every classroom has a class library with high quality books to choose from. There are several initiatives across the school to develop and promote a love of reading, inlcuding our 50 recommended reads for each year group. We also have links with our local library including going along to author visits.
Intent - What will we achieve?
At Malpas Alport we aim to provide our children with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to both read fluenty and understand what they have read. Our early reading curriculum includes a systematic, focused synthetic phonics programme (Read Write Inc). As a school we believe that reading and language skills are vital for a child's prospects at school and in life. 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.
As a school, we strive to encourage and foster a love of reading. We encourage pupil's to be able to answer with confidence and understanding when asked how reading can impact them both now and in later life. 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 - how is our vision translated into practice
At Malpas Alport Primary School we link reading and writing using a text based approach in our lessons. Our class text, and other books studied in class are used to enhance our language and love for story telling to further improve our own writing skills. Phonics is taught in groups which occur daily. Phonics provision is also supplemented by a wide range of speaking and listening, English, spelling and grammar activities.
We take children's interests into account when providing reading material and ensure the children have a voice. For children who are accessing our phonics scheme we ensure that their books directly match the stage at which they are on. Children further up the school follow the reading bands.
We celebrate and reward those children who "strive for five" and read five or more times a week.
Guided and shared reading
In KS2, children take part in regular reading reponse lessons as well as having the opportunity for silent reading time where teachers may listen to individual children read. Every class has a class text which is read to the whole class at the end of the day. English lessons are delivered and taught around a quality text selected by teachers and children. Children in lower KS2 are expected to read for 20 minutes a day at home and record this in their reading records.
In upper KS2 the teaching of reading focuses much more around developing commprehension skills. For those children who still need to develop reading fluency, more targeted reading sessions will take place.Throughout KS2 Rapid Reading is used as an effective reading intervention and RWI intervention may be used.
Reading is taught on a daily basis and supported through home reading. In daily reading sessions, children are taught different skills with an aim to develop a child who reads fluently, with understanding and for enjoyment.
Key Concepts
These are explored through different texts and text types appropriate to the age and ability of the child.
Word Reading: Children are taught to apply their developing phonic knowledge to read fluently and accurately.
Comprehension: Children are taught the skills to understand and question the texts which they are reading.
Pupils are taught a range of skills in order for them to understand texts through:
Vocabulary: Children are exposed to increasingly adventurous vocabulary in order to widen their knowledge and understanding.
Inference: Children are taught to draw conclusions based on their reading both explicit and implied information.
Prediction: Using prior knowledge, children are taught to predict what may happen next.
Explain: Using prior reading of the text, children are taught to explain events of the text.
Retrieve: Children are taught to retrieve information quickly and accurately.
Summarise: With precision and conciseness, children are taught how to give a statement of the main points in specific parts of paragraph.