Reading
At Calveley Academy, we promote and value reading as an enjoyable activity and a life skill. We know that reading matters not only to our pupils' language development, along with their academic success, but reading also gives us pleasure and comfort. We therefore ensure that our pupils will have access to a wide range of reading opportunities both at school and at home.
There are different types of reading opportunities within school matched to the age and ability of all pupils. In the Early Years Foundation Stage, teachers will support children in developing an interest and enjoyment of reading. Initially, children will be encouraged to develop positive reading behaviours, such as handling books carefully, holding books upright, turning pages and showing an interest in illustrations. They will understand and join in with stories, books, poetry and rhymes. Through this, children should develop a competency to read a range of familiar words and simple sentences.
In shared reading, the teacher models the reading process to the whole class as an expert reader providing a high level of support. Texts are rich and challenging to nurture and develop a love of reading at all levels. Staff use a variety of stimulating books to engage and enhance the child's wider reading experiences through planned questioning.
Across the school, we endeavour to promote a love of reading for all our children in many ways. One of which is through our displays. We ensure that a range of topic and information books are incorporated into their displays for other areas of the curriculum, such as Geography and History. This encourages children to further broaden their knowledge and reading of a particular topic or subject area. Classroom reading environments are print-rich and stimulating with a wide range of books displayed creatively and imaginatively. Working walls display rich and varied vocabulary. Reading areas display recommended books, author studies, prompts to support children to read and children's own books that they have written. All classrooms have a well-stocked book area with a range of fiction and non-fiction. The school library is an important resource and pupils are taught how to use it appropriately.Events such as World Book Day, author visits and storytellers are planned and celebrated each year to raise the profile and enjoyment of reading, in addition to other special reading mornings and character days.
We are proud to offer the pupils a text rich learning environment where imagination and creativity can be fueled. Through our rigorous Read Write Inc phonics curriculum, we ensure pupils develop the skills and knowledge they need to become confident readers. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.
Phonics
Children begin their reading journey on entry to Nursery and Reception and teaching phonics is the first important step in learning to read. Our teaching and learning is based upon the Read Write Inc publication, which is a systematic way of teaching how to link sounds to letters, blend them together and segment the sounds to spell. Phonics is taught daily from Reception through to Year 2, for guidance on the pronunciation of sounds see the video below.
Click the link to watch the video 'How to say the sounds' Video
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; only pupils who learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are able to effectively participate in wider society.
To achieve this, we ensure that:
- there is a sharp focus on ensuring that younger children gain the phonics knowledge and language comprehension necessary to read and spell
- reading is prioritised to allow pupils to access the full curriculum offer
- a rigorous, sequential approach to the reading curriculum develops pupils' fluency, confidence and enjoyment in reading
- at all stages, reading attainment is assessed and gaps are addressed quickly and effectively for all pupils
- at the early stages of learning to read, reading materials are closely matched to the learners' phonics knowledge
Read Write Inc
Children from nursery to Year 2 follow the Read Write Inc (RWI) Phonics programme. Children learn to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn the individual letter phonemes (sounds), followed by digraphs (such as sh, ch) and trigraphs (such as ear, igh). They learn to blend these sounds into words verbally and read words containing these sounds. Simple and enjoyable mnemonics help all children to grasp the letter-sound correspondence quickly. Reading books are closely matched to the children's phonics knowledge and include tricky words (red words) that children cannot sound out such as said and was.
Children have a daily 30 minute lesson which includes learning new sounds and reading books closely matched to their phonics level. Children complete their learning at their table in phonics books. Children take home two RWI books a week as well as a library book of their choice.
All staff who deliver phonics sessions receive phonics training as part of their induction to Calveley. The reading champion then continues to support staff throughout the year and offer continual professional development to ensure quality teaching.
Accelerated Reader
In KS2, and KS1 where appropriate, children choose books from the Accelerated Reader scheme. These books can be found in our well resourced library area, and include popular and classic fiction and non fiction. Children are assessed every half term and take home a book based on their ability level. When they have completed the book, they will take an accelerated reader quiz on this book to check their comprehension. If a child receives 90% or 100% in their book quiz they will receive a house point and a certificate in assembly that week.
Reading at home
When looking at reading, there is an absolute wealth of material online for free, and this includes eBooks! Here are some of the best resources.
Oxford Owl eBook Library
BookTrust
Free Children Stories
Monkey Pen
Magic Keys
Story Line Online
Recommended Reading Books for each year group
If you have a kindle there are also some great books here: Kindle Books
Here are some suggested books for each of the year groups:
Primary School Reading Lists
RECOMMENDED READS FOR EVERY YEAR GROUP (follow this link)