Reading

‘Creating the conditions for children to develop confidence in themselves as learners, discoverers and critical thinkers is vital in a rapidly changing world.’

Pluckley Church of England Primary School is dedicated to making reading a stimulating, engaging and creative experience that allows a culture of enthusiasm, appreciation and confidence across all areas of the curriculum. By reading in school, we aim to create a generation of young readers that are independent, have a varied and diverse vocabulary and that celebrate our unique literary heritage. We hope to unlock the potential in all children, encouraging lively and enquiring minds that expand both their own horizons and the world in which they live. This is alongside the pleasure of creativity, imagination and discovery that is inherent in all reading.

Our Reading curriculum is designed so that all pupils begin a lifelong journey with text by becoming independent learners with lively enquiring minds who seek pleasure in simply reading. Put simply, we want our pupils to be able to enjoy the simple pleasure of reading but read to a level that means they can access what they need to in later life.  This, we believe, best prepares children for their experiences in the wider world after school.

Reading lessons at Pluckley Church of England Primary school support the young people in our care to become:

• Resilient and ambitious children who strive for outstanding outcomes, who use their initiative and are unafraid of making mistakes.
  • Emerging readers quiz when they have finished their books and this allows them to demonstrate their understanding and progress to a higher stage. Competent readers have a wide range of books to choose from and all children have reading time each day and have the opportunity to read to an adult at least once a week.  This allows them to be confident and strive to improve.  
• Successful learners with a thirst for knowledge who are curious and self-motivated to learn and achieve.
  • We teach children that reading is not just a means to an end; it’s a form of entertainment and pleasure. Although children have a banded book which corresponds to their ZPD (level awarded by the Star Reader assessment), they also have a pure enjoyment book. This can be any level and of their choosing. We demonstrate pleasurable reading by modelling our own reading habits. When we drop everything and read, adults may lay on the floor with a book or sit with a comfy cushion and also read. 
• Young people with a strong spiritual foundation who thrive by embodying our REFLECT values in all that they think, say and do.
  • Through interesting and challenging texts, children have the opportunity to demonstrate our REFLECT values. They learn respect through reading about different people around the world and the struggles many people face. They endeavour to read more tricky text with a wide range of increasingly challenging vocabulary. They cooperate by reading together and the Reading Ambassadors promote their love of reading which allows all to enjoy stories.
• Well-rounded individuals who have a range of strategies to support positive mental health; enabling them to live fulfilled and happy lives.
  • Children are able to express their opinions about the texts they read and have the opportunity to build or challenge others viewpoints in a safe and nurturing environment. They feel able to disagree while remaining respectful and this is a great transferable skill which is then increasingly seen in other areas of their school lives. 
• Confident, responsible individuals who have a strong sense of community and strive to make a positive contribution in their future role in the 21st Century and beyond.
  • Within our reading lessons, we encourage collaborative working to allow children to develop and hone their personal skills of negotiating and working together. They learn to listen to each other’s views and either build upon the comments or respectfully challenge to state their own point of view. The children learn that respect and tolerance to all views 

How is Reading taught across the school?

As reading enables children to access all areas of the curriculum and the wider world, it is a subject that is taken very seriously by staff members. As part of thematic topic based learning, children read and explore a key text everyday. Additionally, pupils are taught the skills of reading and comprehension using a reading model developed by TKAT. This approach usually involves pupils exploring a fiction and non-fiction text over a 2 week cycle, and then a poem and song over a week long cycle whereby they explore vocabulary, inference, predictive, evaluative, retrieval, summarising, sequencing and scanning skills, while exploring the language and intent of the author to build and develop skills which will be needed in later life.

Children have dedicated reading sessions daily and regularly to encourage independent reading, both in school and at home in partnership with parents and carers. Children are actively encouraged to read a variety of genres, styles and techniques in order to make learning varied, accessible and enjoyable. As such, all teachers aim to use a multisensory approach that uses methods such as audiobooks, guest speakers, drama, film, theatre and e-books as well as exciting and relevant books in the classrooms in order to make reading accessible to all learners, no matter their preferred learning styles.

How do we know what the children have learnt and understood?

Teachers use formative assessment to evaluate the learning during a lesson. They may ask questions to check understanding, or scrutinise independent work in order to identify common misconceptions or share thinking. Such assessment allows teachers the flexibility to intervene in a lesson to remind, redirect or re-teach pupils as required.

Formal termly summative assessments, supported by written NTS tests or past SATs tests, allow teachers to evaluate how individuals, groups and the class as a whole are progressing compared to national expectations. They also give an excellent opportunity to see what concepts may need to be given additional time, and to adjust planning accordingly. Additionally, they give the Reading Leader the opportunity to see where strengths and weaknesses lie, where additional support needs to be focused and what training requirements there are. Children also complete the Star Reader Assessment on Accelerated Reader five times a year, which provides them with a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) and this informs their book band colour(s). The Star Reader assesses word reading skills as well as comprehension. 

Alongside this, the teaching of reading throughout the school is also monitored through the deep dive process of book and planning scrutinies, learning walks and through the use of pupil and staff voice.