St Mewan CP School - Reading
We believe Reading underpins EVERYTHING we do and so we place Reading at the heart of our Curriculum and as a result our results in reading by the end of KS2 are in the top 4% of the country but equally importantly, we are a school full of pupils and staff who LOVE Reading. Please see further details of our reading curriculum below.
HOW DO WE PRIORITISE READING?
- Every child receives at least 1 hour of reading a Day. In EYFS and KS1 this includes over an hour of phonics a day, 15 minutes of listening to a story every day, independent reading time with an adult, a weekly visit to the library and a weekly Reading Comprehension lesson. In KS2 this includes half an hour a day of reading teaching, 15 minutes of independent reading time and 15 minutes of listening to a story as well as reading across the curriculum.
- Every year we hold Reading Workshops for parents on phonics and reading with your child at home.
- Our results for KS2 Reading in 2023 were in the top 4% of the country. Our phonics results and KS1 results were both above national.
- Our English Lead is a member of the SLT and the Trust English and Phonic lead.
- We invest a significant amount of our budget annually in high-quality texts.
- There is termly CPD for staff on Reading.
- All staff are trained in RWI, our Early Reading programme, and we have access to the full package of training online for regular updates.
- The phonics lead coaches reading daily and holds weekly training sessions for staff.
- We use the HFL Fluency project in KS2 to support pupils who join us later in their school journey.
HOW DO WE PROMOTE A LOVE OF READING?
- All staff are expert readers, modelling reading skills, discussing texts and sharing their own love of reading.
- Teachers read class stories each day to children promoting a love and enjoyment of stories, immersing children in the world of imagination. The school has carefully mapped the texts the children are read to ensure they are high-quality and enable the children to experience a diverse range of people, places, times and cultures.
- We reward effort in reading and regular reading with the weekly 'Golden Bookbag' in assembly where pupils who read regularly are entered in to the draw and if they win, they take home a new book and a hot chocolate.
- Every week, pupils take part in Book Talk to enable to learn more about themselves, their teachers and their peers as readers.
- Stories are read in assemblies and staff share their favourite books regularly.
- Our reading and writing curriculums follow the 5 plagues of reading and include a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, to expose pupils to different texts they may enjoy.
- Whole-class reading lessons are based on research informed practise and the advice of experts such as the EEF, Alex Quigley and Doug Lemov. They embed metacognitive principles and teach pupils comprehension and vocabulary strategies they can use for the rest of their life.
- Thorough the use of Accelerated Reader (AR), teachers encourage children to regularly read at home. Teachers use AR to identify reluctant readers and help them to foster a love of reading by recommending quality-texts and engaging them in conversation about books.
- Every term pupils who have met their reading target (based on effort and regularity of reading, not ability), receive a reward with the reading lead.
- Pupils have access to a wide range of books which is constantly updated.
- Each year, we hold a book fair to engage families in reading and provide exciting new books at a low cost.
- Book ambassadors in each year group help raise the profile of reading across the school.
- Family Reading Days are held annually where parents and authors are invited in to school to share a love of reading.
- We take an active part in the St Austell Children's Literature Festival, St Austell Festival of Speech and Music and the Fowey Literature Festival.
- Our English Lead is a UKLA book judge.
HOW DO WE MAKE SURE PUPILS MAKE PROGRESS?
- Phonics is taught everyday following the RWI progression of sounds to ensure a systematic approach. Phonics lessons follow the same sequence of teach, practise, revise, review and apply. Planning includes assessment for the graphemes taught. Phonics is assessed half-termly to identify gaps in learning and to inform future planning and intervention.
- The school and Trust are a RWI Trust and in 22-23 the trust were awarded the 'Green Trust' award meaning we met all our data targets and as a trust exceeded national for the PSC for all groups.
- We receive termly data meetings with RWI to identify which pupils need additional support and how to improve the teaching of phonics. We have two annual development days with our RWI rep to improve the quality of phonics.
We deliver daily Fast Track Tutoring to early readers who need the most support. - Pupils in Key Stage 2 who are not yet fluently reading (usually because they have joined us after Reception), receive additional support in learning to read.
- Children in Year 3 - Year 6 complete the PIRA termly assessments to support teachers in assessing their progress and identifying next steps. The Accelerated Reader programme also supports with this.
- Pupils in Key Stage 2 benefit form highly-successful whole-class reading lessons that support comprehension and vocabulary development.
- Our secondary schools have fed back that they can tell which pupils came from St Mewan by the quality of their reading and writing.
- We send home half-termly updates to parents on their child's phonic group and send weekly videos to help them support their children with reading at home. When children are falling behind, we meet parents to advise them how to support their child.
HOW DO WE MATCH THE PUPILS' READING BOOKS TO THEIR PHONIC ABILITY?
- Every half term, children who are using the Read Write Inc. scheme celebrate the improvements they've made by completing a reading assessment with the phonic lead. The reading assessment shows the sounds each child has learnt; which words children recognise by sight and which words children can blend together using their phonic knowledge. As children progress through the Read Write Inc scheme, we also begin to assess how many words each child can read per minute. This allows the school to group pupils for their phonics lessons. The books sent home are then matched EXACTLY to the sounds each child knows and no book is sent home without it being read in school first.
- Once children become 'free readers' they use Accelerated Reader to guide their book choices. Children complete a Star Reader Test at the beginning of each term. This generates a numeric score known as a lexical level which supports children and teachers in choosing the colour-coded books that match each child's reading level.
- Once children finish reading a book, they complete a simple online quiz to ensure they have understood the book. Children and teachers are then able to track their reading and see the number of books they have read in a given time period.
HOW DO WE TEACH PHONICS FROM THE START?
Children begin to learn the letter and sound correspondences as soon as they join the school in the Autumn term of Reception. Children take part in phonics lessons from Day 1 of Reception and for pupils in our Nursery we introduce RWI in the Summer term of Nursery if they are ready. Pupils are assessed weekly in the first half term of Reception and tutoring is targeted to close gaps in the moment to ensure a ‘Keep up not catch up’ mentality. Pupils are also assessed using the NELI intervention to identify anyone who may require some additional speech and language provision to support their learning to read. By Autumn half term children should have learnt the first sixteen sounds and by Christmas children should be able to read all Set 1 singleletter sounds and blend sounds into words orally
Pupils learn to read the Set 1 Sounds first of all. These are sounds (phonemes) written with one letter (grapheme) and include m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x as well as some sounds written with two letters (digraphs): sh th ch qu ng nk ck
HOW DO WE SUPPORT PUPILS TO CATCH UP?
All pupils are assessed every half term by the reading lead and grouped according to their progress. As part of this assessment all the sounds the children know (and do not know) are recorded and teachers of RWI groups plan the order of their teaching to meet the children’s sound gaps. Class teachers also use these sound gaps to plan and deliver daily afternoon speed sounds lessons and Fast Track Tutors use the sound gaps to support those identified as needing support. Any child who is falling behind expected progress, is targeted for daily Fast Track Tutoring to their sound gaps. Pinny time is also used by learning supports to target gaps identified in the morning sessions. If a teacher feels a child needs assessing in between half-termly assessments, they can request this from the Reading Leader and it will be done immediately and groups altered if required. The bottom 20% of readers across the school, their progress, and the support they have received is tracked by the English Lead who then works with the SENDco to identify where additional assessments or support may be required. PHAB, BPVS, Dyslexia, NELI and Phonological Awareness assessments can all be used where required and support given in line with whatever these reveal. If KS2, pupils who are still classes as early readers are assessed to ensure they have all the phonic knowledge they require and will receive targeted support for phonics, reading fluency or comprehension dependant on the outcome of these assessments. Any reading intervention is short and regular to ensure the curriculum is not narrowed for these children.
HOW DO WE TRAIN STAFF TO BE READING EXPERTS?
- Every member of staff at St Mewan receives the full 2-day RWI training programme when they join the school to ensure they can support Early Readers throughout the school. The school also has access to the full training and training videos online which all staff can have access to.
- The phonics lead delivers coaching every day to staff to ensure that teaching and learning in phonics is of the highest quality. Teachers also attend weekly targeted practise sessions.
- RWI approaches are drip fed through the reading and writing curriculum in KS2 to ensure pupils continue to apply their learning in the future.
- The English Lead delivers termly training on reading through staff meetings and support staff briefings.
- Targets are set and reviewed by the English Lead termly.
- Pupils progress meetings are used to review the quality of progress and attainment in each class and to upskill staff in how to support the needs of learners in their class.
- Regular learning walks and coaching are delivered by the English lead to continue to upskill all teachers.
- All staff see themselves as a teacher of reading.
