Phonics and Reading

Reading Leads - Mrs Hutchinson, Miss Gordon & Mrs McDermott

Reading Intent

At Button Lane Primary school we believes that reading is central to a child’s understanding of the school curriculum and of its vital importance in life. Fluent readers can engage critically with a range of texts, develop their ability to analyse, consider and question and also grow to love their language and comprehension skills.

We believe that a quality Literacy curriculum should develop children’s love of both reading and writing. We aim to develop a love and appreciation of reading and hope to achieve this through careful planning and teaching using up to date strategies. We use quality reading materials and resources within: phonics, writing lessons, whole class reading sessions and across the curriculum.

Building secure foundations in Literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education. We aim to equip our children with a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear progression as they move throughout our school. It is our prime intention to provide our children with the skills they need for future life and contribute to wider society.

At our school your child will:

• Develop phonetic skills which lead to blending and reading fluently. 
• Build confidence and positive attitudes to reading. 
• Enjoy the feeling of achievement gained by progressing through our recently enriched reading scheme. 
• Experience reading for pleasure through the sharing of a class novel with regular visits to the school library. 
• Be monitored through the use of a range of assessment strategies including informal assessments and formal testing as appropriate. 
• Be supported to maximise their reading potential. 

Implementation 

At Button Lane we meet our schools aims and those of the National Curriculum through our well organised English curriculum. Within this, we ensure Reading is at the centre of all whole curriculum and all aspects of English through creating meaningful opportunities for Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. We use a wide variety of high quality texts to motivate and inspire our children across all areas of the curriculum and find opportunities to promote reading for pleasure. We further enrich our reading curriculum through World Book Day, reading volunteers, our school and local library to enrich our children’s learning.  

Early Reading

At Button Lane Primary School we believe that for all our children to become fluent readers and writers, phonics must be taught through a systematic and structured phonics programme

We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound, that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words that they might discover. At Button Lane we also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of language skills for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

How we teach phonics

• In the nursery, children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
• In reception and Year 1, children follow the progression within Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
• Phonics starts in reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.
• By the end of reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
• By the end of year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
• Reception lessons start at 10 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing to 30 minutes as soon as possible.
• Year 1 lessons are 30 minutes long.
• In Year 2 and Year 3, phonic lessons are taught daily to children where appropriate – following the model of Little Wandle but plugging specific gaps identified through assessment.
• In Year 2 through to Year 6 there are planned phonic ‘catch-up’ sessions following a set model to address specific reading/writing gaps. These are short, sharp sessions lasting 10 minutes in length and taking place at least three times a week.

 How do we assess phonic knowledge?

• In Reception and Year 1, at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
• Children identified in reception and Year 1 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
• In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
• The children in Year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
• Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, will re-sit this in Year 2.
• Children who are in Year 2-Year 6 and need ‘catch up’ sessions are assessed through teacher’s ongoing formative assessment as well as half termly summative assessments.

Whole Class Reading

In our classes from Year 3- 6 the children take part in whole class shared reading session 3 times a week, where high quality texts are used and the learning focus is on Reading Gems (Define, Retrieve, Summarise, Infer, Predict, Relate, Explore and Compare). The Reading Gems is essentially an approach to teaching Reading, which includes the strategies and skills needed to become a fluent and resilient reader. Each of the skills link to strategies and every day reading techniques. Our progression ensures that children are exposed to all domains with particular emphasis on retrieving, defining and inferring as these are skills we recognise are used most frequently in day to day life. Within each text, we recognise that children may have gaps in learning or limited prior knowledge about what they are reading and therefore, we use formative assessment to adapt teaching, where necessary. For example, discussing certain texts in more detail or developing additional background knowledge.

As part of our reading structure, we implement timely, effective interventions to children who need further support. This includes, BRP, Switched on Reading and Writing, phonics catch up sessions, individual reading and small groups.

Impact

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident word readers by the end of Key Stage1. By the end of Key Stage 2, we aim for our children to be fluent, confident and able readers, who can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as using their reading skills to unlock learning and all areas of the curriculum.  We believe that reading is the key to all learning.

In order for this to happen, the Reading team work closely with Senior Leadership Team to take responsibility for the monitoring of the Reading curriculum and the standards achieved by the children. The Reading leader monitors for appropriate pitch and progression and uses this to direct support and inform action planning

The impact of our reading curriculum offer is measured through our teaching, learning and monitoring cycle.