Reading is at the heart of our curriculum
There is a strong focus on cultivating a love for reading where learners become fluent through phonics and develop an understanding of reading for pleasure throughout school. We aim to develop not only reading skills but also a genuine appreciation for diverse text types, fostering independent choices in reading for both pleasure and purpose. Our curriculum exposes learners to a variety of themes, characters, vocabulary, and global settings.
Have a look at our diverse and high-quality Books and Opportunities for Reading covered in each phase below:
We value reading as it is essential for all curriculum areas; has academic, social and emotional benefits; and can improve children's life chances.
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated Reader is a customised reading programme that meets the needs of individual pupils for Year 2 and above. Pupils are given their personalised Reading Range – their ‘Zone of Proximal Development’. This enables pupils to find a book which is appropriate to their reading level. Teachers encourage pupils to read a variety of books to develop their literacy skills and help them to meet the challenges of life in the 21st century.
Children use in-school Accelerated Reader time and daily home reading time to support their development of reading fluency and comprehension.
Our school library
Pupils have access to the library throughout the school day so that they can choose their books, talk about their books and read for pleasure.
Early Reading and Phonics
To become fluent readers, we teach early reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme that is taught in Early Years and Year 1 - as well as children in Year 2 or above who require additional phonics teaching. You can find out more about this programme by clicking on their website here.
The Teaching of Phonics and Early Reading
At Kingsham, we teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:
- Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.
- Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.
Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
Rapid catch-up phonics lessons are used for any child in Year 2 or 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics screening check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge.
Early Reading using phonics is also taught in EYFS and Year 1 through reading practice sessions three times a week. These are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children and use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments.
Reading at Home
Phonics Home Reading for Early Years and Year 1 - Decodable Books and Share with Me
We want to encourage children to read regularly at home (at least five times a week). They will be doing this using:
- A decodable reading practice book to ensure success is shared with the family.
- ‘Share with me’ books (which encourage reading for pleasure), which go home for parents to share with and read to children.
- Phonics sound and word packs to continue developing their phonic knowledge and application.
Further information and support for Phonics and Early Reading can be found on Little Wandle's website and our 'Learning Resources' section of our website.
You can also access our Phonics and Early Reading Policy below.
Home Reading for Year 2 onwards - Accelerated Reader Books
Learners from Year 2 will have access to Accelerated Reader books to continue developing their love for reading at home. We encourage learners to read at least five times a week at home to support their development of reading fluency and comprehension.
Any child who is not fully fluent at reading or has not secured their Phonics will need to catch up, so we will continue to use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and will have a Phonics Reading Practice Book to take home.
