Luxulyan School
Reading
‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.’
Dr Seuss
Intent- Why are we teaching this?
At Luxulyan, in partnership with our parents/carers, we believe that reading is the key that unlocks many doors to learning in other areas of the curriculum. Our children should:
- Experience an environment which is literacy rich.
- Be encouraged to love books and read for pleasure.
- Be taught how to decode and decipher words for themselves.
- Share the love of reading with family, friends and adults at school.
We believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. We want pupils to develop a love of reading; a good knowledge of a range of authors; be able to see themselves and their families represented in a text and be able to understand more about the world around them by reading.
By the end of their time at our school, all children should be able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in reading and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress. We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills, and so we want to encourage a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to understand how to enhance the skills being taught in school through good quality texts.
Implementation - How is this being taught in the classroom?
EYFS & KS1 Read Write Inc.
At Luxulyan, we teach our pupils to read using the Read Write Inc program. Pupils are taught daily and in small groups by their reading stage, not age. They learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They develop a love of reading by experiencing success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ or 'red' words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice. Once pupils’ decoding skills are secure, they take part in Whole Class Reading sessions which focus on comprehension skills. Pupils continue to access the RWI programme if their decoding skills are not secure at the end of Key Stage 1.
Explicit Teaching of Comprehension
Language comprehension is developed through structured, research-informed practice across the school.
In EYFS and KS1:
- high-quality texts are shared and discussed daily.
- pupils are given opportunities to comprehend and discuss story through daily story time, book talk and a story-enriched curriculum provision.
- Adults used targeted questions and discussion of new vocabulary across the curriculum.
In KS2, pupils who are fluent decoders take part in daily whole-class reading lessons informed by evidence-based approaches including:
- Primary Reading Simplified (Chris Such)
- Just Read (Sussex University)
- HFL Fluency Project (Tim Rasinski)
Reading for Pleasure
Reading for pleasure is promoted through our whole school Reading Spine where texts have been specifically chosen to inspire a love of reading in all pupils. These books are widely promoted throughout classrooms and pupils are actively encouraged to read all their year group texts each year.
Every class has a reading corner and a selection of books to interest and enthuse the children. We have recently developed our school library to be an exciting environment filled with a variety of books ready to whisk the reader away to a different world!
Impact- What is the effect?
The impact of our reading curriculum is seen in pupils who:
- learn to read accurately and fluently at an early stage. Last year 100% of learners achieved the PSC in Year 1, above national averages.
- keep up with the phonics programme and complete it successfully.
- transition confidently to whole-class reading in KS2. Currently (Summer 26) 100% of learners in KS2 have completed RWI and are accessing whole-class reading.
- read with increasing fluency, stamina and prosody.
- demonstrate secure understanding of increasingly complex texts.
- use and understand a broad and ambitious vocabulary.
- talk confidently about books, authors and genres.
- choose to read independently and for pleasure.
- are well-prepared for the next stage of their education.
- achieve the expected standard in Reading at the end of KS2. Last year 88% of learners achieved expected in Reading (compared to 75% nationally).
Key Assessment Criteria- Being a Reader
At Luxulyan, one of the tools Teachers use for assessments is the key assessment criteria for each year group, for each subject to support their judgements about the attainment and progress of our children. The criteria supports staff to ask rich questions and probe understanding.
Pages which contain the DFE logo are extracted directly from the National Curriculum for England from September 2014. These outline the expected curriculum content for each year group and key stage.
Pages with the subject logos are a suggested set of criteria for best fit assessment in each year group.
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