Reading

Reading at Burton Green:

• Daily Read Write Inc Phonics sessions from Reception to Year 2. 
• Daily 30 minute reading lesson in KS2: 
  • Reading Plus for fluency development
  • Hooked on Books (Jane Considine) for developing depth of understanding
• Daily storytime sessions
  •  Early Years and KS1: Talk through Stories
  • KS2: whole class novel from our reading spine
• Reading is recorded in Home Reading Records and Class reading charts (every child reads at least 25 times a half term) certificates and wristbands are awarded for bronze, silver and gold readers.

Reading Environments:
Reading is at the heart of everything we do. We have a well-developed school library and each classroom has a reading area with a variety of books. Each class has a dedicated time every day for the teacher to share a story. In Early Years and KS1, each class has a selection of core books which they regularly revisit. We use Read Write Inc Talk through Stories to support story time in EY and KS1 and we have a 10 minute daily vocabulary session linked to the previous week’s story. KS2 classes have a whole class novel (every child has a copy of the text) and they also read a selection of supporting texts including poetry, song lyrics, non-fiction and articles.

Jane Considine Hooked on Books:
Each week, the whole class focus on one text. This might be a chapter of their whole class novel, a non-fiction text or a poem. There are two Book Talk sessions- the first focuses on reading, understanding and summarising the text while the second looks in more detail at particular aspects of the text using the lenses of the Reading Rainbow. The final session of the week is a comprehension lesson where pupils are guided to develop written answers to questions about the text.

Reading Plus
The programme enables pupils to read at an appropriate level whilst monitoring reading speed and comprehension. The programme is adaptive to pupils’ needs, and adjusts the challenge provided as and when necessary. It also develops pupils’ vocabulary through weekly vocabulary sessions. Reading Plus provides live assessment data which allows staff to be responsive to pupil needs in their whole class reading lessons.   

Phonics:
We teach Phonics following Read Write Inc.

From the beginning of Reception until Year 2 phonics is taught daily in homogenous groups by members of staff trained in Read Write Inc.

Children take home phonetically decodable books that they have read in school and a matching book bag book to practice, they also borrow a picture book to share with adults at home. 

In Year 1 all children take a Phonics Screening Check. Children are assessed regularly each half term and Fast track Tutoring is used to ensure all children keep up.  

Some children in KS2 may still require daily phonics sessions and we use RWI Fresh Start sessions for any pupil in Year 5 and 6 that need it.

Online Resources:
To support the teaching of reading in Early Years and Key Stage 1 we have a subscription to Read Write Inc Phonics ebook library where families can access the books that match their child’s phonetic knowledge and take a quiz. 

In KS2, children can use their Reading Plus accounts at home and in school

Parent Workshops:
Throughout the year we invite parents and carers to play and stay sessions in Early Years and Key Stage 1.
These include:
– Family phonics sessions
– Nursery Rhyme Week
– Book Breakfasts

Meeting Authors:
In partnership with St Peter’s, we have been lucky enough to meet some amazing authors. Our Key Stage 2 children have met Cressida Cowell, Maz Evans, Robin Stevens and Tom Palmer.

The author James Nicols kindly came into school to donate some books for our library.

The whole school had a workshop with author and illustrator Rob Biddulph and he was kind enough to sign some copies of his books for us.