St John Southworth RC Primary School

At SJS reading is... having a love of reading. Decoding, inferring and comprehending.

Reading is at the heart of our English curriculum. We recognise the vital role that reading plays in all learning. We take a systematic synthetic approach to teaching phonics. This is delivered using the scheme – RWI (see phonics section). Following excellent teaching of phonics and early reading, whole-class reads and novels immerse our children in a wide variety of texts.

Intent, implementation and impact of our Reading Curriculum

At Saint John Southworth RC Primary School, we shape our English curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child. Through this we aim to equip all children with the ability to explore and understand the wider word of adventure and wonder that books open to us.

Intent

A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to read fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening so that others can communicate with them. We work hand in hand with parents & carers to provide a reading education of the highest quality, which celebrates everyone’s success in a happy, caring environment and where all our differences are valued. Our reading curriculum is designed to meet the content requirements of the DFE’s ‘National Curriculum in England: English Programmes of Study’ (2014) and the language and literacy sections of the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ (2014). Our curriculum aims to develop pupils’ competence in reading so that they are equipped with this skill for the rest of their life. Alongside the skill of reading, the loved of reading is also well promoted. We intend for it to be exciting and engaging by choosing quality texts and by providing a vocabulary rich environment.

Implementation

Reading at St John Southworth is taught through a daily English lesson, Guided Reading sessions and daily phonics session (KS1/ EYFS). English sessions are planned using the Lancashire Units to ensure coverage of genre and progression through each year group, key stage and across school. The following of these Lancashire Units ensure that the Reading Phase is given high importance within long term planning of English. Phonics sessions in EYFS and KS1 use Read, Write Inc Phonics as a base for teaching whilst also being supplemented by other activities. 

In Reading, we teach a Guided Reading curriculum that covers key skills needed to become a great reader - understanding inference, retrieval of information, authorial intent, understanding of text layout and summarising skills. Children have access to author-based book collections, the school library, have high quality reading experiences such as the Brilliant Book Awards, and teachers also ensure that children regularly read at home and in school. In addition to this time is set aside in each class to sit back and enjoy a class novel or story purely for pleasure. We use School Library Service every half term to refresh our topic book collections and use the Lancashire Library Service to ensure that our School library has a relevant, new and exciting selection of books on offer for children to borrow. In addition to this authors, poets and story-tellers are often invited into school for assemblies and workshops where children are inspired to read a wide range of genres and text types. Termly competitions are run to involve parents and carers in their child’s reading such as ‘book in a box’ competitions and ‘We are Reading’ challenges. As well as this all staff are encouraged to share their reading preferences with the children and all staff display the book that they are currently reading on their door. Across the school, Reading and Vocabulary are of high priority with all children being exposed to immersive texts that grip them and ensure quality writing ensues.

Impact

 Throughout our Reading sessions, children learn to identify the key language features within each genre and the reading skills are continually reinforced across the curriculum. Children are given the skills and tools to access other areas of the curriculum and life using their Reading skills. The lifelong impact of our Reading curriculum for our children is to create readers who are enthused by reading a range of genres and text types and feel equipped to use reading as a tool in their everyday life.