Reading

 ‘English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.’ (National Curriculum, 2013)

 Our Curriculum Intent for Reading

Click here for our English Policy 2023

Our overarching aim for English and, in this case specifically reading, is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

 Through the teaching of reading, we aim to enable children to:

• Enjoy English and to study it with a sense of achievement and an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage
• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding – for pleasure and for information, using  phonics initially, as well as graphic, syntactic and  contextual cues, to monitor their reading and to correct their mistakes
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• Be able to express themselves creatively and imaginatively, and to think critically

How is reading for pleasure promoted?

Studies have shown that reading for pleasure is the biggest single indicator of a child’s future success. We develop pleasure in reading by sharing with children a wide-range of stories, poems, plays and non-fiction. A 'Reading Spine’, influenced by Pie Corbett, ensures that all children have access to some of the great works of authors and poets such as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Julia Donaldson, Roald Dahl, Clive King, Andy Mulligan, Wilfred Owen, Joseph Coelho and Malorie Blackman.

Reading for pleasure is encouraged throughout the school. Our school library is central to our provision and all children have the opportunity to borrow books each week, guided by our fabulous librarian, Ms Adcock. The library is open to parents, as well as parents of pre-school children, once a week.

As well as enjoying a class story together each day, every class has a 'Book Club' session each Friday where informal book talk is encouraged about the books in our class libraries. In this time, children and staff speak about books and give recommendations. Our classroom library books are changed by our librarian every half term, based on the children's interests and staff views, as well as new books available and recommendations such as from Gloucestershire's 'Reading Teachers=Reading Pupils'. We keep our libraries current using fund-raising and a 'sponsor-a-book' initiative which makes the libraries exciting and loved by the whole school community. 

Reading for pleasure extends into lunchtimes too, when we facilitate ‘Reading Buddy’ sessions, an initiative that was introduced by the School Council in 2024. Once a week, volunteers from Years 5 and 6 take out a carefully chosen box of books and rugs on which to sit into the quiet area (Mr Rymer's Cottage). The younger children love to join their older peers for a story. 

A highlight of the Avening School calendar is World Book Day when we take a text, genre or author and transform the school into the fictional setting, aiming to create a sense of awe and wonder around the extent of an author’s imagination and human creativity.

In recent years, we have enjoyed 'The Wonderful World of Magical Stories' where we sorted children by the Sorting Hat, enjoyed lessons in Potions and in the handling of Owls, inspired by the stories of Harry Potter. We have been inspired by the classics Swallows and Amazons and The Jungle Book, as well as by the stories of Julie Donaldson and Roald Dahl. Our Parent Questionnaire, 2024, demonstrates how much this annual event is loved by the school. Positive comments about what parents value most about our school included: 

'Our school library - which is so well-stocked and run by our fabulous librarian, Alex Adcock. Her enthusiasm certainly inspires the children and we look forward to the wonderful annual event World Book Day!'

'Variation in extra-curricular activities - such a wide variety with something for every child to enjoy (including the extra-special effort that goes into World Book Day - it's just magical.'

How is Reading Taught?

In the early stages of reading, the children’s phonic knowledge is developed (see the ‘Phonics’ page for detailed information on how we teach phonics and early reading at our school).

Then we focus on developing fluency using an evidence-based approach which develops children's ability to read with accuracy, automaticity and prosody. 

From Year 2, the children have whole class reading lessons. In Year 2, these are daily sessions, and in Key Stage 2 are timetabled four times a week for 30 minutes. The choice of text is from our reading spine. 

In Year 2, the focus in mainly on reading for fluency. This sees the teacher modelling reading from a class text, with children sat in mixed-ability pairs, following their own copy of the book using a ruler or finger. As part of this daily reading lesson, the teacher will choose a short extract to model and the children repeat this extract several times, practising in their pairs to gain fluency.

By the summer term of Year 2, when the children are ready, the teacher introduces a couple of extended reading sessions each week. This is when children, selected by the teacher take turns to read, as the class track the text carefully.

Reading for fluency and extended reading continues through whole class lessons in Years 3 and 4, and extended reading may include children engaged in short bursts of silent reading. Extended reading sessions include approximately two-thirds of the time reading, and one-third of the time discussing the text.

By the summer term of Year 3 and 4, close reading is introduced once a week. This is where a short extract is chose and repeatedly read - first for fluency and then for comprehension. The extract is discussed to clarify, summarise or explore meaning. The focus is on discussion rather than written answers, although sometimes children may be required to write. In these sessions, approximately one third of the time is spent reading, and two-thirds of the time engaged in comprehension discussions.

In Years 5 and 6, the children continue to read for fluency and enjoy extended reading, with at least two sessions of close reading each week. By the Spring term, this will include SATs practice so that children are well-prepared for their tests to come. 

In all of our whole class reading lessons from Year 2, the pre-teaching of  vocabulary is a key feature.

In discussion, teachers ensure that a range of comprehension questions are taught:

•  Inference – 'Think about the clues in the text': requiring children to think about what the author is trying to show-not-tell. In KS2, these will often require a Point, Evidence, Explain structured answer where children are expected to justify their answers with evidence from within the text. In Key Stage 2, we encourage the children to use the word ‘because’.
• Retrieval – 'Sniff out the answer in the text': requiring children to find specific information from within the text. We teach the children to skim and scan for key words.
• Vocabulary Choice – 'What was the author thinking?': requiring children to think about why the author has chosen to use a particular word or phrase and how meaning is enhanced though this choice.
• Grammar –'Spot your grammar skills in action': requiring children to find particular grammatical aspects or to think about why these are used within the text.
• Structure –'How has the text been put together?': requiring children to think about how information / narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole.
• Summarise – 'What happened in the text?': requiring children to identify key information from a text in order to summarise paragraph(s).
• Predict – 'What will happen next?': requiring children to think about what might happen next using details stated or implied within the text.

In EYFS, children are introduced to reading and discussing stories. Daily story time is an important part of our provision in EYFS.

In addition to regular reading sessions, in Key Stage 1 and 2, class comprehension tasks are planned as part of the writing learning journey when the children are in the immersion stage of exploring a text. Through this method, all children get to experience rich and challenging texts, and the children are able to encourage, challenge and inspire one another.

Where children are not making progress, intervention is planned. This may involve in-class intervention, where the teacher supports children during the practise section of a fluency lesson, or one-to-one support, e.g. an ELS blending intervention.

Parents are expected to listen to their child read aloud at least four times a week, with repeated readings of early reading texts to develop fluency.