Reading

At Wistaston Church Lane, we believe that reading is fundamental to a child's love of learning. Whether reading for pleasure or for independent study, we want children to develop the skills necessary to become confident and competent readers.

Intent

At Wistaston Church Lane Academy, we ensure our children are able to develop their love reading, writing and discussion through high quality teaching and learning. We equip our children with the skills necessary to allow them to be independent, inquisitive learners through our English curriculum which allows the children to build upon prior learning, year on year.

During their time at Church Lane, our children will develop their reading abilities, becoming enthusiastic and confident communicators. They will explore texts and discuss the similarities and differences between them; they will discuss, summarise and make predictions; they will learn how to infer information by reading between the lines; they will develop an expansive vocabulary and enjoy playing with language for various effects on the reader. Our children will explore new and classic, high-quality texts to inspire their writing and help them to develop their own style and individual flair with language.

At Church Lane, we believe that a secure grounding in literacy skills is crucial to gaining the best education; an education that will allow our children to stand out and participate fully as valued members of our society. Our English curriculum aims to ensure that:

● read easily, fluently and with good understanding

● develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information

● acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language

● appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage

Implementation

At Church Lane, we use the Pathways to Read programme of study from Year 2 to Year 6 to deliver our reading sessions. EYFS and Year 1 focus on the teaching of phonics through the Rocket Phonics scheme with class reading books which instil a love of books and reading in the children.

At Church Lane, we identify children who need support and provide intervention in the most effective and efficient way that we can. We run intervention reading groups and are fortunate to have parents, governors and volunteers who come in regularly to hear children read. Most children on the SEND register have reading and comprehension as one of their targets. Teachers plan and teach three 20-minute whole-class lessons, using quality text examples, which focus heavily on developing vocabulary and practising the key reading skills of inference; prediction; explaining; retrieval; summarising. We help each child maximise their potential by providing help and support where necessary, whilst striving to make children independent workers once we have helped to equip them with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need.

In Key Stage 2, we use Accelerated Reader to inform teachers of the attainment and progress of the children in their class. Accelerated reader offers the children an opportunity to check their understanding through quiz questions based on the texts they have read.  This encourages children to read more, whilst also allowing teachers to see how well children are answering specific question types. This allows for targeted work in reading lessons and interventions in order to hone the skills the children are finding most difficult.

We love to celebrate success of all learners and strive to help all children achieve their goals. Reading is celebrated in classrooms and around school at Church Lane, where our bright and colourful displays celebrate children’s writing, their favourite books and reading reward schemes. 

Impact

Through the teaching of phonics at Church Lane, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school. Attainment in reading is measured using the statutory assessments at the end of Key Stage One and Two. These results are measured against the reading attainment of children nationally. Attainment in phonics is measured by the Phonics Screening Test at the end of Year 1. However, we firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the results of the statutory assessments. The children are regularly assessed throughout the year using NFER and accelerated reader ‘star assessment’ which informs teachers of the attainment of the children. This can support interventions or challenges to ensure the children reach their full potential in reading. We give all children the opportunity to enter the magical worlds that books open up to them. We promote reading for pleasure as part of our reading curriculum. Children are encouraged to develop their own love of genres and authors and to review their books objectively. This enhances a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles.

Cultural Capital

At Church Lane, our children are equipped with the necessary skills to become excellent communicators. Through reading, they will develop an appreciation of the nuances of language that make ours so interesting. As reading is so integral to becoming independent learners and creative and informative writers, we aim to ensure that our children are given the best start possible in becoming valued members of society. 

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