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Learning

English - Reading

Reading and language is at the heart of St Stephen’s.  Reading and language nurtures our lives; it allows our imaginations to grow, and is essential in enabling our school family and community to flourish.

Aims of Reading at St Stephen's

Our role at St Stephen’s is to ensure every member of our community develops a rich, broad and articulate use of language alongside a life-long love of reading.

Many pupils in our community are affected by the 30 Million Word Gap. Upon entering school, they have heard a lot less vocabulary than their peers nationally and have not encountered reading role models, nor a pleasure and love of reading. By studying reading at St Stephen’s, pupils will develop a love for reading and will be able to articulate the books, authors and genres they enjoy. 

They will be able to make recommendations about books because they will have been exposed to a variety of texts that perhaps they otherwise would not have encountered. They will read key classic literature appropriate for their age, giving them the cultural capital they require as they move into adolescence. Ultimately, pupils at St Stephen’s learn to read in order to be able to access all aspects of the school curriculum. 

We want our pupils to read in line with age-related expectations; to talk passionately and excitedly about the books they have read; to make recommendations about books and authors; to name classic and modern literature and talk about their key themes. 

Reading Texts 2021-2022

We follow the Power of Reading approach to deliver writing through a variety of texts.

The full list of texts we use can be found here.

Poetry across school

Poetry is studied both within the Reading sessions and main English teaching sessions at St Stephen’s.

To avoid duplication and ensure a progression of poetry, each year group has been allocated particular types of poetry to study, explore, comment on, create and perform throughout the year.  When planning units of work on a particular poem or poems, teacher should refer to the National Curriculum objectives for each key stage as well as the specific components and features of each poetry type.

Each year group is allocated a range of ‘famous’ or ‘classic’ poems that children should have the opportunity to read aloud, discuss and perform by heart (to an audience where possible) throughout the year, covering one per half term.  These performance poems do not require a written outcome unless teachers choose to produce one.  They can be covered during the reading sessions where appropriate.  

 

These poems can be found by clicking here 

Expectations of reading at St Stephen's

EYFS

Every child follows a clear and systematic programme of synthetic phonics teaching using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds.  This is supported through the use of phonetically decodable books and whole class stories.

Nursery:

  • Taught speaking and listening skills.  Taught to listen to sounds and discriminate if they are environmental, instrumental or body percussion.  They are taught rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and play games to practise oral blending and segmenting.
  • The teacher reads a story to the class every day (ensuring coverage of identified traditional tales and specific authors)
  • Daily use of nursery rhymes (following half-termly identified rhymes)

Reception:

  • Daily whole class phonics session covering Phases 2 to 4 of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds
  • The teacher reads a story to the class every day (ensuring coverage of identified traditional tales and specific authors)
  • Daily use of nursery rhymes (following half-termly identified rhymes)
  • 1:1 Reading for all children every week
  • Teacher-led group reading sessions from the spring term
  • Children have a home/school fully decodable phonics book that is changed on a weekly basis

Key Stage 1

Year 1:

  • Daily whole class phonics session covering Phases 3 to 5 of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds
  • 1:1 Reading for all children every week
  • Teacher-led small group reading sessions, 15 minutes three times each week per child
  • Daily story read by the teacher to the class
  • English sessions taught following a Power of Reading text
  • Class libraries contain books that reflect SMSC and the current foundation or science unit (changed each half term). These are for the children to read for pleasure
  • Children have a home/school fully decodable phonics book that is changed on a weekly basis.

Year 2:

  • Daily whole class phonics session covering Phases 5 of Little Wandle Letters and Sounds for those that need it.
  • 1:1 Reading for all children every week [aim]
  • Teacher led small group reading sessions, 15 minutes three times each week per child during the autumn term.
  • Whole class reading sessions during the spring and summer term.
  • Daily story read by the teacher to the class
  • English sessions taught following a Power of Reading text
  • Class libraries contain books that reflect SMSC and the current foundation or science unit (changed each half term). These are for the children to read for pleasure
  • Children have a home/school Accelerated Reader book that is changed on a weekly basis.

Key Stage 2

  • Whole class reading session (30 minutes, three times a week)
  • Daily class novel read to the class by the teacher
  • Four English sessions taught following a Power of Reading text (1 hour)
  • Class libraries contain books that reflect SMSC and the current foundation or science unit (changed each half term). These are for the children to read for pleasure
  • Children have a home/school Accelerated Reader book that is changed on a weekly basis.

Reading National curriculum

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Assessment Statements

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Additional school activities to support reading

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Accelerated Reader

Once children have completed their phonic phases and passed the phonic check, they then move to using Accelerated Reader as a home/school reading scheme.  This is used from year 2 upwards, right through to the end of year 6.

Accelerated Reader motivates, monitors, and manage students’ independent reading practice.  Teachers use STAR Reading half-termly assessments with the children to accurately identify a child’s reading age.  This is then translated into an appropriate reading book level known as their ZPD level (Zone of Proximal Development).  Children then choose a book from a range within their ZPD level.  Once a child has finished reading their book, they then complete a short quiz using Accelerated Reader, to assess their understanding and comprehension of the text.

Teachers monitor the quizzes being completed and the success of each child with completing the quiz.  Children then move through the ZPD range, reading more diverse and challenging books as their reading age improves.

Half termly curriculum booklet articles

Each half-term, pupils and home are provided with a booklet outlining what pupils are learning, how home can help, useful websites and the vocabulary we will be using. To see the English examples of these, click on the year group below.

Nursery Reception Year 1 Year 2
Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

Leaf through a good book

Leaf Through A Good Book is an approach from St Stephen's to encourage a wider range of reading across school, to support home and pupils with how to read and to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Our school logo has 50 leaves. Each leaf represents a book to experience - to read, have read to, to read together in school or at home or to listen to. There are poetry books, picture books, information and longer fiction. Each is a gateway to a wider experience of reading.

Each book has information about it - when it was written, by whom, the number of pages and words, website links and a blurb about the book. Each page also has details of further books you may enjoy. 

You can explore Leaf Through a Good Book by clicking here

Useful websites

Accordion content