Reading at St Teresa's
Reading for pleasure book lists available on each year groups learning page.
Intent
At St Teresa’s we intend:
- for children to become enthusiastic and motivated readers.
- to develop children’s confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types.
- for children to have the skills to decode words in order to be able to read fluently with understanding of what they have read.
- to encourage a love of literature and an enjoyment of reading for pleasure.
- to use reading to provoke thought within children.
- for our reading curriculum to encourage our pupils to foster a lifelong love of reading.
Implementation
What do we teach? What does this look like?
Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability, additional needs, to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children.
At St Teresa’s we have a skills based approach to reading. In KS2, our reading lessons follow a sequence of five sessions; Vocabulary and text context, Fluency, Teaching Comprehension, Application. In our school, our reading curriculum links closely where appropriate with our writing curriculum; we use a text-based approach that enables us to create opportunities for reading, discussion and writing within English and reading lessons. At St Teresa's, we use the HfL Reading Scheme Assessment model to help secure our teacher assessments with clear outcomes for each year group.
In Early Years and Y1, there is a greater emphasis on phonics; this is then applied throughout the rest of the school to consolidate what has been learnt. Within daily phonic sessions, children have the opportunity to revisit previous learning, practise and apply new skills in structured but engaging ways. We follow the Little Wandle scheme in infants to teach phonics and reading. Each class has a daily phonics and reading practice session. Reading Practice sessions follow a sequence of five sessions; Decoding, Prosody, Comprehension and Application.
We encourage reading for pleasure through children having a choice of challenging and enriching texts as well as building in time for children to read independently and as part of a whole class. All children have daily opportunities to read a variety of material in school, including regularly with an adult.
We have a Reading Spine to ensure the children at St Teresa’s experience a wide range of texts throughout their time in the school. Our Reading Spine outlines the core books the children will be engaged with each academic year.
The children will also experience other books and poetry depending on topics, life experiences and current issues which may arise.
Impact
Regardless of background, ability or additional needs, by the time children St Teresa’s they will:
- be enthusiastic and motivated readers who are confident and will enjoy reading a wide variety of genres and text types
- have the skills to decode words in order to be able to read fluently with a secure understanding of what they have read
- be inspired by literature and will read for pleasure.