Reading

“The teaching of reading is a real strength of the school. Skilled teaching of reading skills throughout the school underpins pupils’ strong achievement in this subject. They say that they really enjoy reading both at home and school. Importantly, in statutory tests at the end of key stage 2 last year, three quarters of pupils reached the higher standard, almost three times the national average.” Ofsted February 2019

We want our children to read fluently and with understanding so that reading becomes a real source of enjoyment and pleasure. We place great emphasis upon reading and provide the children with a range of books and other reading materials to support this. Early reading is delivered through regular guided reading sessions; at a level that matches their phonetic understanding. Each session builds upon the key skills of decoding, prosody and comprehension to develop children’s fluency, confidence and understanding. 

We have daily phonics teaching groups in school to encourage them to practise and develop a range of skills and have recently adopted the Little Wandle phonics scheme (for more information click here) and extended our reading book band scheme by purchasing a substantial quantity of more modern and advanced fiction and non-fiction texts. We chose Big Cat which follows on from our Little Wandle scheme (This ensures there is a seamless and secure progression in reading throughout the school across the key stages). 

Towards the end of KS 1 when children are confident readers of their age appropriate text  (and their Little Wandle heat maps show secure phonic use), they use the library and reading materials alongside the KS 2 children. As children move into KS 2, we aim to further develop children's fluency in reading as well as building confidence and understanding. This is implemented through guided reading sessions using a range of quality texts - different genres and cultures.

The principles of teaching early reading are continued from KS1 into KS2 where pupil’s reading books are matched to their phonetic knowledge. The Little Wandles Rapid Catch-Up Programme is used to support pupils who need additional practise forming, decoding and blending sounds to boost their reading fluency, confidence and progress. This is supported by regular guided reading sessions which strengthen the important skills of decoding, prosody and comprehension to lead to independent reading.  We also invested in the Big Cat Progress collection, which is a differentiated group of books, meaning that we are able to provide rich, interesting and age appropriate texts to all readers, whatever their reading ability.

We have recently been developing our library area, with the aim to further encourage a love of reading within our children.  Pupil librarians have been appointed who, not only have their library responsibilities, but are enthusiastic about encouraging children to explore books and texts - especially those they may not initially choose themselves. In May 2023 The National Literacy Trust informed us that we had won the runner up prize in their 2023 Children's Book Celebration which marked the Coronation of King Charles III.  All of the children contributed to the competition, listing their favourite books.  We have won the top 23 books from the competition and look forward to them arriving at school soon. In the meantime, here is a montage of the books we will be adding to our school library.

We monitor your child’s progress through regular assessment, aiming to progress them through the book bands and onto becoming free readers (from our extensive library collection) to ensure that they reach their full potential.

Each teacher will keep a detailed record of your child’s reading progress and achievement and will set targets with them. Each term every child from Y1 to Y6 completes the RISING STARS PIRA test which gives a standardised score. Staff use this information alongside their own teacher assessment to make a judgement about whether children are working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard or at greater depth in reading. We encourage, welcome and ask for support from home with the reading process, using the homework planner as a two-way communication tool.. 

 Long Marton School believes every child should experience the joy of reading for pleasure. Our weekly Book Club encourages pupils to listen to and share favourite stories, poems and facts with each other. We have a termly visit from the library van and children can choose their own books that they can take home.

"I chatted to a group of older pupils at lunchtime and they said that there is always a wide choice of really interesting books. They also told me that their teachers read to them every day. Teachers read with expression to bring characters to life and make pupils want to find out what happens next in a story." Ofsted February 2019

See below the reading objectives taught in each school year.