Reading

'Reading is the one ability, that once set in motion, has the ability to feed itself, grow exponentially and provide a basis from which possibilities are limitless’.

Michael Morpurgo

We Are A Reading School

We therefore:

• Promote a love of reading and books at every opportunity. Our displays reflect this and are evident in classrooms and corridors. Our children regularly access the school library and are encouraged to join their local library. Our staff read to children every day – they are advocates for reading.

• Have a rigorous and a consistent approach to phonics. All our staff receive phonics training. We aim to ensure pupils master the phonic code as soon as possible using the Read Write Inc programme.

• Have a consistent approach for children who fall behind. We assess against the Babcock objectives for Years 1-6 and we ensure children only move up bookbands when they are ready.

• Have a ‘read it and understand it’ approach in Early Years and KS1. We plan comprehension activities as much as phonics because we understand that children need both skills to be an effective reader.

• Use VIPERS to promote children’s articulation of the key reading skills apart from phonics.

• Use a rotation timetable between guided sessions with differentiated texts and whole class shared reads with differentiated activities.

• Use a variety of high quality texts and resources.

• Keep detailed records which have comments linked to the skills. We have a consistent approach to reading records/guided reading books. Reading records are used to promote regular reading at home.

• Have a structured approach for ‘free readers’.

• Link our reading explicitly to writing skills (this may be through displays, learning journeys and follow up activities which promote writing based on reading.

Reading in KS1

At Blisland School we use Read Write Inc. Phonics, a DfE-validated systematic synthetic phonics programme, to support early reading. It teaches children to read accurately, fluently and with understanding.

In KS1 children will progress through their set 1, set 2 and set 3 sounds in phonics and read the following RWI book sets. This table shows the progress children may make as they progress through the RWI phonics programme.

When considering whether your child is ready to move up to the next RWI book colour (and set of taught sounds), we consider their word reading (recent phonics score, decoding) and their comprehension skills. This includes their ability to answer questions within their RWI book and their ability to answer VIPERS questions within whole class and small group guided reading sessions. Reciprocal reading roles are introduced in Year 2 when the children are ready, in preparation for their continuing reading journey in KS2.

You can find out more about how we use RWI to teach phonics at Blisland in the document below - Read Write Inc School - Blisland.

RWI games, resources and VIPERs reading comprehension documents can also be found at the bottom of this page.

Reading in KS2

When considering whether a child is ready to move up to the next book band we consider their decoding skills and their comprehension skills. In Key Stage 2 (once your child has reached the end of the RWI phonics programme), they will progress through the following book bands - white, lime, brown, grey, dark blue, dark red and black.

In KS2 we also take on Reciprocal reading roles to further our understanding of the texts we are reading and to help each other as our reading comprehension skills flourish and grow. We do this during whole class and group guided reading sessions, with the following roles: Predictor, Clarifier, Summariser, Questioner, and Big Boss. A document explaining these roles can be found at the bottom of the page.

In both key stages children can earn raffle tickets for reading more at home, resulting in a chance to win a termly book voucher!
Research shows that it is the combination of Guided Reading sessions, together with Shared Text or Whole Class Reading lessons that has the highest impact in terms of a child’s progress in reading.