Reading

'Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.'

Joseph Addison

'I love school because of all the books and our library' - Holly M.

Intent

At Princes Risborough Primary School, our intent is for all children to become confident, fluent readers, who love to read and explore all text types and genres. We aim to provide each child with the skills necessary to become independent readers, who can decode and comprehend texts at an appropriate level.

By exposing our children to a wide range of genres, which are rich in vocabulary and content, we provide children with the opportunity to analyse texts, develop their own opinions and identify preferable writing styles.

We endeavour to prepare children for their transition to secondary school by ensuring they can access a wide range of texts, thus supporting them to be successful, life-long learners. We aim to challenge each child by delivering an engaging, enriching curriculum which ignites a passion for reading, fosters a love of language and provides an opportunity for imagination to flourish.

Implementation

In EYFS and Key Stage One, children are taught Phonics daily. This is through a systematic synthetic programme ‘Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds Revised’.

In Key Stage One, classes have three reading sessions a week and have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

· Decoding

· Prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression

· Comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

In Key Stage Two, all classes have four whole-class reading lessons. Three of these lessons are based around a novel; one is focused on non-fiction and poetry. In these lessons, comprehension and reading skills are taught, based upon the use of ‘VIPERS’.

On a weekly basis, each class visits the school library to change their books, explore the range of genres and grow their passion for reading. Each classroom also has a bookshelf of high-quality texts for the children to read. In addition, each class has a 'Recommended Reads' basket which is updated on a half-termly basis. 

Every child reads aloud every week, through reading sessions in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, and through a mix of 1:1 reads with an adult and in Guided Reading in Key Stage 2.

We use ‘Little Wandle: Letters and Sounds’ decodable books for both the reading sessions and home reading in Reception and Key Stage 1. (Please find further information on the separate Phonics page of the website).

In Key Stage 2, we use the Big Cat Collins reading scheme to challenge children to read at the most appropriate level; they begin the scheme when they are fluent in Phase 5 Phonics and complete the scheme when they become a fluent free reader. Children are benchmarked using the ‘Big Cat Collins Assessment for Fluency’ tool on a half-termly basis.

Each class has a class novel which the teacher reads every day to expose them to rich vocabulary and sophisticated structures; our aim is to encourage children’s enjoyment of books and to be encouraged to read for pleasure.

Through our PiXL assessments, we are able to identify children’s gaps within their learning and plan lessons accordingly.

Talk 4 Writing English lessons further complement our reading lessons, exposing the children to high-level texts and vocabulary. We also endeavour to enrich children’s reading opportunities across the entire curriculum.

Reading is celebrated through class reading challenges and whole-school events such as World Book Day.

Impact

We achieve good outcomes in Reading at the end of both key stages; our children are aware of the fundamental importance of reading and the key role this plays in their lifelong learning. Children enjoy reading lessons and the skills they learn support their understanding across the rest of the curriculum. Our lessons improve each child’s communication, confidence and vocabulary. We believe that this love of reading stimulates children to become lifelong avid readers.

Reading has been a key priority area of our School Improvement Plan over the last few years and we have transformed the reading curriculum and the teaching of reading. As children progress from Early Years to the end of Key Stage 2, they are building on their decoding skills, reading fluency, vocabulary, inference and comprehension to become confident and enthusiastic readers who are able to verbalise their thoughts and opinions on a text. By the time children leave PRPS they are competent readers who can recommend books to their peers, have a thirst for reading a range of genres including poetry and participate in discussions about books, including evaluating an author's use of language and the impact this can have on the reader. They can also read books to enhance their knowledge and understanding of all subjects of the curriculum to support their wider learning.

Progression Documents

Overviews

July 2023

The Librarians were really proud to announce the winners of our Summer Reading Challenge!

A huge well done to Class 1 and Class 4 who won themselves a games afternoon and ice cream!

Over the last 2 months KS2 have read a staggering 84,000 pages and KS1/R read nearly 1000 books!! Incredible reading everyone! Have a look at the powerpoint below to find out more about it!

Keep up the reading over the summer!

Summer Reading Challenge Update 22.05.23

At the half way point the leaders in Reception/KS1/ARP 1 are Year 2 who have read 162 books between them this half term! Well done! 

In KS2/ARP2 the current leaders are Year 4 who have read a staggering 8224 pages since the challenge began - that's a class average of 249 pages per class member! Year 3 are not far behind with an average 216 pages read each!

We also have some superstars who have read more than 500 pages and made it onto the Reading Champions Hot Air Balloon - some children are absolutely smashing it with 1000+ pages! A special shout out to Hannah (6B) and Luke (Y4) who are our individual reading leaders!! 

Keep up the amazing reading everyone...