At Pocklington Junior School, we understand the vital role that reading plays in allowing children to fully access the wider world and is the skill which opens doors for learners and allows them to see their world through the pages of their books. It is for this reason that we put reading at the forefront of our curriculum and are committed to fostering a love for reading through both the reading curriculum and the wider curriculum that we offer.
Daily Reading Lessons
All pupils benefit from daily reading lessons where pupils experience and explore a range of ambitious and high-quality texts from a variety of genres, authors and topic matters to maximise their reading experience. Within reading lessons, pupils learn how to develop their reading fluency as well as taking part in whole class discussions. These lessons are key in developing pupil’s comprehension skills alongside their ability to critically analyse what they read and discuss this in an open classroom setting.
Having a rich and varied vocabulary is essential for pupils to be able to fully understand and discuss the texts that they will experience in school and in the wider world. For this reason, vocabulary lessons are taught daily where children fully explore the meanings of key words which they will see within the chosen texts. During these sessions, pupils have the opportunity to understand and use the vocabulary within a range of contexts before using it themselves within their own writing.
Where pupils may need further support in their reading comprehension skills, they become our class Reading Experts. As experts, they will take part in intervention sessions with a skilled practitioner. During these sessions, pupils will explore and discuss the class reading text in small groups prior to the whole class reading sessions. This prior reading leads to bolstered confidence and participation in lessons which in turn allows for progress to me made.
Phonics
As a school, we have adopted the proven synthetic programme Read Write Inc. to support pupils who still require support with their phonetical awareness when they enter Key Stage 2. This allows pupils to seamlessly continue their phonetics journey they began at Pocklington Infant School to ensure continuity in their phonic journey. Pupils who need support in this area work in small groups with highly trained staff to ensure that swift progress is made. These sessions involve activities that not only develop children’s phonetical awareness, but to use blend these sounds accurately to develop their reading fluency. Pupils are monitored and assessed half-termly to measure progress and ensure that pupils are accessing the correct level of challenge.
Assessment
As reading happens daily in school, teachers are able to swifty identify pupils who may need further support in reading and will adjust their teaching to ensure that no pupil falls behind. Reading is more formally assessed throughout the year using NfER (National Foundation for Educational Research) assessments. These are well-researched, nationally benchmarked tools that provide accurate and reliable data on student attainment and progress in reading. This allows our pupils to show the progress that they are making in reading and allows class teachers to ensure that the teaching of reading is tailored to meet the needs of the class and where needed, identifies pupils who may need further reading support.
Individual Reading
As a school, we adopt the Accelerated Reader approach to ensure that our pupils are reading books of an appropriate level. Every pupil has a reading book which is matched to their Zone of Proximal Development. Pupils are assessed regularly to ensure that their ZPD level is accurate and pupils are able to make progress within their individual reading.
Our castle themed library is the hub of reading in school. The library, watched over by our very own Knight, is run by our library champions, Mrs Whincup and Mrs Peckover and assisted by our junior librarians. Pupils have daily opportunities to visit the library and to change and update their reading books which ensures that our children have a fresh book to allow them to continue their reading development.
Reading with families and the discussions they lead to can help to develop a life long love of reading along side fostering the link between home and school. As such, and with parental support, our pupils are encouraged to read at least five times a week and families are able to use the Learning with Parents website to log their home reading. Our pupils are fully engaged in this and love to share not only what they have read but also photographs and audio clips of their reading with the class teacher. The highlight of the reading week comes when the winner of the highly coveted ‘Golden Ticket’ is revealed. This is a pupil who has read at least five times a week and has been selected to wear their own clothes as a reward.
Reading Spine
Our reading curriculum not only covers the teaching of reading but also stretches into other areas of the curriculum as well. We understand that through reading, pupils can enhance their knowledge and understanding of a range of subject areas. Our school reading spine (currently under development) is a carefully selected range high quality texts which allows our pupils to not only enhance their knowledge of the world around them. When our pupils are read to by our skilled teachers, it is a wonderful time where pupil’s listening skills are developed, their imagination sparks and the inclusive reading environment is one where every child is encouraged to explore new stories and ideas.
Reading for Pleasure
We want each and every pupil to develop their love of reading and reading for pleasure as we know that this is one of the biggest indicators of future success. For this reason, reading for pleasure is forefront in our minds at Pocklington Junior School. Throughout their time at our school, pupils will experience a range of additional reading opportunities to enhance their love of reading.
Another such opportunity is our ‘60 before you leave’ challenge. This is a selection of 60 high quality texts carefully chosen to develop our pupil’s reading diet and worldly experiences by allowing them to explore topics and experiences both within and outside of their own world and point of view. Throughout the year, children are challenged to read all of the selected texts from their year group lists as their reading books.
‘Reading Stamina’ is another of our pupil’s favourite challenges within school. The ability to be able to read at length and without distraction is an essential skill that we are developing in our pupils. Classes challenge each other to see who can, as a whole class, read for the longest period of time without stopping. This class can then claim to be the current Reading Stamina Champion and can wear the Champions Rosette proudly on their class door. This is often a hot topic of conversation on the playground and children are keen to further their reading stamina time and be the reigning champions.
