Reading Journey
‘The whole world opened to
me when I learned to read’
- Mary McLeod Bethune
Reading is a vital skill that will support children’s learning across the whole
curriculum. As a school, we will ensure that our children are taught to read with
fluency, accuracy and understanding, through a variety of discreet and cross-
curricular learning opportunities. Above all, we want children in our school to
become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. Essentially, we want
children to enjoy reading.
In the Early Years, we provide high quality reading experiences that are essential in
supporting our children in their journey to becoming competent readers.
Each classroom has its own stimulating book area, which is accessible by children,
as well as a wide range of resources and
opportunities to apply reading skills, for example:
name cards, alphabet mats, print in the
environment, signs and labels, puppets and props
to re-tell and act out stories.
Phonics
At Grosvenor Road we believe that the systematic approach to the teaching of
phonics, which is generally understood as 'synthetic' phonics, offers the vast
majority of young children the best and most direct route to becoming skilled readers
For this purpose, we use Little Wandle Letters and
Sounds, which is a phonics scheme validated by the DfE.
The use of Letters and Sounds begins in Nursery where the aim is for
the children to experience regular, planned opportunities to listen
carefully and talk extensively about what can hear, see and do. As the
children progress through this phase they will begin to orally blend and
segment words. Orally segmenting involves the children being able to identify the
individual sounds that are contained in words e.g. cat is made up of c-a-t. Oral
blending is the children’s ability to ‘blend’ individual sounds together to form words.
E.g. s-o-ck blended to give the word sock.
In Reception, this work is reinforced and the children will then progress onto learning
the link between graphemes (written letters) and phonemes (the letter sounds).
The children will use this knowledge to begin to blend to read and segment to spell
using graphemes taught.
Early Years Foundation Stage
Nursery
Sharing Library
In Nursery, the children are able to choose a book from our sharing library to take
home to read with an adult. Parents can choose a book with their child and they can
be changed on a weekly basis, at the end of a school day.
Visit from a local Librarian
The children in Nursery receive a visit from a local librarian. They
talk to the children about the library and how they can join. They
bring exciting books from the library to read to the children.
Phonics
The children in Nursery take part in phonics sessions in small
groups. The children are encouraged to listen carefully and talk
about things that they can hear and see. The children listen to
rhymes and generate rhyming words, make sounds using different instruments,
including body percussion as well as identify sounds in the local environment.
The children will also begin to practise the skills of oral segmenting and oral
blending.
Reception
Reading Meeting for Parents
At the beginning of the school year, in
September, parents and carers of children in
Reception are invited to attend the Reception
Reading Meeting. This meeting is a crucial part
of a child’s reading journey. It enables the
Reception staff to share important information
about reading at Grosvenor Road Primary
School, and the role parents have in ensuring
that their child’s journey is a successful one,
enabling their child to be the best they can be.
Individual Reading
Each child takes home a reading book every day to read at home. The reading book
is carefully matched to a child’s individual phonic knowledge.
In school, children read individually with an adult at least twice a week and a
comment is written by an adult in the child’s reading record. The reading record
provides the opportunity for a shared dialogue between staff and parents about a
child’s reading.
Guided Reading
Children in Reception also take part in 3 guided reading sessions each week. These
sessions focus on a range of reading skills, including application of phonic
knowledge, developing vocabulary and comprehension.
Key Words
In the autumn term of Reception, children are given a ‘Key Word Folder’ containing
a set of letter sound cards that can be used as flashcards to play games at home
and support children with their progress in reading. This folder will also contain tricky
word cards that have been taught in Phonics lessons.
Parent Workshops
In the autumn term, we invite our Reception parents into school to attend our
Phonics Workshop. It is an excellent opportunity for parents to see, first-hand, the
teaching of phonics and take part in some phonics activities that children engage in
whilst at school, all of which promote the development of reading.
Reader of the week
At the end of the week, one child in each class
is awarded with the ‘Reader of the Week’ award
for their effort with reading. The certificates are
presented in an award assembly on a Friday
afternoon.
In Key Stage One, we build on the outstanding foundations for reading which the
children experience in our Early Years.
The children’s reading journey through key stage one is carefully planned to ensure
that all children are given the opportunity to make accelerated progress and become
confident, independent readers who are
developing a love of books.
All classrooms have their own reading areas which
are filled with a variety of reading material
including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
In addition to this, each year group borrows topic
related texts from the Schools Library Service in
order to enhance curriculum areas.
Individual Reading
In key stage one, as in Early Years; children bring home a reading book every day.
The books which the children bring home are carefully matched to the children’s
phonic knowledge so that they can achieve success with their reading at home and
become fluent with their decoding. These books also provide opportunities to
develop children’s vocabulary and language comprehension.
Year 1
Children in Year 1 will read in school to an adult at least 3 times a week. The adult
will add a comment or stamp in the child’s reading record book to indicate that they
have read in school that day.
The children are encouraged to re-read their book often to improve the automaticity
of decoding and develop their fluency; which in turn will improve their enjoyment of
reading and their understanding of what they have read. This means that the
children’s book will not be changed after only one reading. Instead we would really
like you to celebrate with your child the opportunity to read their book again and
praise and comment on the children’s improving fluency.
Key Stage 1 – Years 1 and 2
Some children may require some additional reading practice and these children will
be heard by an adult every day.
The children will also bring home a set of keywords which they are encouraged to
read ‘on sight’. These words are the ‘familiar faces in a crowd’, and help the
children’s reading fluency and understanding.
Year 2
In Year 2 the children will bring home a reading book every day. The children’s
books are closely matched to their phonic and reading needs and allow the children
the opportunity to practice fluent reading. Having the opportunity to re-read books is
a vital part of learning to read and children are encouraged to re-read their books to
help them develop their fluency and comprehension skills.
The children will read their home reading book individually to
an adult at least once a week. Some children, who require
extra reading practice, will be heard read every day.
Children in Year 2 will continue to use books closely matched
to their phonic knowledge until they have developed a good
level of fluency at phase 5 of our phonics scheme.
Children are also encouraged to make reading choices of their
own by borrowing books from the class book corner.
Guided Reading
Guided reading gives the children the opportunity to consolidate, improve and
challenge their reading skills. Guided reading groups are small groups of up to six
children who are all of a similar ability. They work on specific areas of reading such
as phonic application, literal retrieval skills, vocabulary and inference skills. During
the guided reading session, the children will read a variety of different texts including
fiction and non-fiction books, poetry, leaflets and web pages.
In Year 1, children will participate in at least two guided reading sessions a week
with their class teacher. The children will read the same book 3 times.
The first read of the book will focus on the children’s decoding skills.
Subsequent reads will help children develop their reading prosody
(fluency) before moving on the look at the skill of comprehension.
In Year 2, the focus of the guided reading session will depend on the
needs of the children; some children may still be working on
developing their decoding as well as their fluency and comprehension.
Phonics
As in the Early Years, the children will take
part in a daily phonics session. For children
in Year 1, this takes place at
11.30 each day. Children in
Year 2 participate in a phonics session each day at
10:45.
Children in Year 1 are required to complete a phonic screening
assessment in May. This is a short, light-touch assessment to confirm whether
individual children have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will
identify the children who need extra help to improve their reading skills. Children
who did not reach the required standard at the end of Year 1 will have the
opportunity to re-sit the phonics screener at the end of Year 2.
Phonic Assessments
In Years 1 and 2, the children’s phonics acquisition is monitored very carefully to
ensure that they are making the required progress towards becoming fluent
decoders.
Every 6 weeks the children are assessed using an assessment linked to the phase
of phonics they are working in. These assessments give the teachers valuable
information which allows ‘gaps’ in knowledge to be quickly addressed through ‘keep-
up’ sessions.
Green Readers
Reading makes up the vast majority of our homework expectation, and we
recommend that the children read at home every night for 10 – 15 minutes.
More information regarding the importance of reading at home can be found on our
website
http://www.grosvenorroadprimary.org/documents/information/school-letters-and-
documents/the-reason-your-child-can-t-skip-their-20-minute-reading-tonight.pdf
Children who read at home 5 times in a week will be ‘green readers’ and
receive a green smiley face in their reading record book.
Assessment
The teaching staff uses daily formative assessment, based on the work that the
children complete in class. This provides valuable information about the children’s
progress and next steps.
In Year 2, the children complete Reading Assessment test
each term. The children are required to read 3 short texts
and then provide a written response to a variety of questions
presented in different formats. These tests provide the
teachers with a reading comprehension age as well helping
the teachers to plan next steps in learning.
In Year 1, the children complete an NFER Reading test in the summer term, ready
for their transition into year 2.
The children in Year 2 also complete a Salford Sentence Reading Test each term.
This requires the children to read a series of unrelated sentences of increasing
difficulty, generating a word recognition reading age. This helps to inform the
teachers about the difficulty of texts given to the children.
In Year 1, the Salford Sentence Reading Test is used in the Summer Term ready for
transition to Year 2.
Guided Reading
In years 3 and 4, Guided reading takes place each morning.
There are 5x 30-minute Guided Reading sessions.
During each session the children will have the opportunity to practice,
consolidate and improve their skills in one of the following areas.
The children will work as a whole
class, in groups, in pairs and
individually to answer, both orally and
through written responses,
increasingly complex questions
presented in a variety of ways.
In one of our guided reading sessions, the children will listen to their
teacher reading the Whole Class Reader which provides children with the
opportunity to hear a variety of high-quality texts being read aloud and
discussed. This is in addition to having a ‘story time’ at the end of each
day.
Lower Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4
The texts used will cover both fiction and non-fiction and include:
• Extracts
• Novels – both modern and classic
• Short texts
• Newspaper articles
• Song lyrics
• Video clips
• Poetry
Individual Reading
The children will be given a reading book by the teacher. This book has
been carefully chosen by the teacher based on their assessment of your
child’s reading and comprehension needs. There is a variety of fiction,
non-fiction and poetry books within each colour band as well as a variety
of popular novels and authors.
As children enter KS2 they are encouraged to make more independent choices
about their reading and choose books which will help develop their love of
reading. The children are expected to change their library books
independently when necessary.
Inside each classroom is a book area which contains a variety of texts for
different abilities and the children are encouraged to talk about their
reading choices as well as widen their reading diet.
Each class is also provided with a loan from Salford Schools
Library Service which includes a variety of books related to
their Science and Humanities topics for the term. These
books can be found around the classroom and help to build
on children’s knowledge.
Being a Green Reader is an important aspect of school life for children in Grosvenor
Road, and every day the children’s reading journals will be checked to
ensure they are on track to be a green reader. At the end of each week,
if there are five or more adult signatures, this will be celebrated with a
green sticker in their reading journal.
Any children who require extra support will read with an adult 1:1 outside of the
guided reading sessions and this reading is recorded in the school reading section
inside the reading records.
Assessment:
As well as regular daily assessment in reading sessions,
each term, children in Year 3 and 4 complete an SSRT
(Salford Sentence Reading Test) and an NFER test.
SSRT tests children’s reading ability and provides the
teacher with a reading age. This ensures that the level of text provided by the
teacher is appropriate.
NFER tests the children’s reading comprehension of three different text types and
uses a variety of question types which are covered by teachers during guided
reading sessions.
The results of these tests are analysed by the teacher and used to inform planning
for the next term.
Guided Reading
In years 5 and 6, Guided reading takes place each morning.
In year 5 there are five 30-minute sessions.
In Year 6 there are five 45-minute sessions
During each session the children will have the opportunity to practice,
consolidate and improve their skills in one of the following areas.
The children will work as a whole class, in groups, in pairs and
individually to answer - both orally and through written responses -
increasing complex questions presented in a variety of ways.
Once a week the children will listen to their teacher reading the Whole
Class Reader which provides children with the opportunity to hear a
variety of high-quality texts being read aloud and discussed. This
is in addition to having a ‘story time’ at the end of the day.
Upper Key Stage 2 – Years 5 and 6
The texts used will cover both fiction and non-fiction and include:
• Extracts
• Novels – both modern and classic
• Short texts
• Newspaper articles
• Song lyrics
• Video clips
• Poetry
•
Individual Reading
The children in Years 5 and 6 are encouraged to read as widely as possible and the
staff will help them choose appropriate texts depending on
their reading ability, genre preferences and interests, as well
as encouraging them to read outside their normal
preferences.
The children may bring home 2 books. One book has been carefully chosen by the
teacher based on their assessment of your child’s reading and comprehension
needs and this is part of the children’s homework. The other book has been chosen
by the child from the collections in the classroom or shared library area.
The children are encouraged to talk about the books they have read, writing reviews
and recommendations for their classmates to read
Children are encouraged to practice their reading prosody using their home
reading book. Reading prosody helps the children to comprehend more easily what
they have read and is made up of different elements of reading including;
Expression, Automatic word reading, Rhythm and Phrasing and Smoothness of
reading.
Children who achieve a good level of
reading prosody no longer need to access
the levelled reading books and become fully
independent in their choice of reading from
our wide selection of books both in class
and in the shared library area.
For those children who need additional support with reading, one-to one reading
with the teacher or other adult will still take place outside of the guided reading
session.
Each classroom has a well-stocked, inviting book area that the children are
free to use and borrow books from. We also have a central reading area,
shared by all classes, from which the children can choose fiction, non-fiction and
poetry books.
This area also has books related to the topics covered in each year group for that
term, which are on loan from the Schools Library Service.
Green Readers
Our Green Reader system starts in reception and carries on to the end of
Year 6. Each morning, the children’s reading journal is checked and they
will receive a stamp or mark if they have read and had their journal signed
the previous night. The children are then encouraged to keep a track of
the number of stamps/marks they receive over the week. This
is celebrated on a Friday, with those children reading at home
five or more times, receiving a ‘green’ smiley face in their
journal.
Assessment
There are many ways in which the children’s progress and achievement
in reading is assessed.
The guided reading sessions provide teachers with invaluable information
about the children’s progress in reading. The children’s oral and written
responses are used by the teacher to carefully track the children’s
progress in each of the content domains (Retrieval, Inference,
Understanding of vocabulary in context, Summarising, Predicting and
Effect)
This information is then used by the teacher to plan appropriate teaching
and learning opportunities to ensure that all children make good progress
in all areas of reading.
Each term the children will complete a more formal reading test. The
children will read three short texts, made up of a variety of genres, and be
required to answer a variety of questions presented in different ways,
from multiple-choice to questions that require longer, more detailed
answers. In Year 6, the summer term test will be part of the End of Key
Stage 2 SATS tests which takes place in May.
The Reading Journey that the
children have been on with us here
at Grosvenor Road fully prepares
them for the next stage of their
education and hopefully lights the spark which will see them carry
on their reading journey long after they leave us at the end of
Year 6.
At Grosvenor Road, we believe that the gift of reading is something that everyone
can share, no matter what difficulties they may face.
Our staff is highly trained to identify from an early age, those children who may need
additional support with reading, and we have a wide range of interventions and
strategies at our disposal to ensure that all children become the best readers they
can be.
These include:
Access to a trained speech and language therapist
Universal small group speech and language work with a trained ELKLAN
teaching assistant
Additional phonic teaching sessions
1:1 reading sessions with a specialist reading teacher
Precision teaching interventions for phonic and word recognition
Boosting Reading Potential intervention
Project X Code reading intervention
Dyslexia screening checks and coloured overlays
Visual search interventions
Toe by Toe
Daily one to one reading
A wide range of reading schemes to suit all learners including phonic based
books, books to encourage high frequency word recognition and high interest,
low reading age books for older readers as well as a range of dyslexia-friendly
texts.
Reading with your child can mean sharing books, stories, rhymes
or any other writing.
You can:
➢ Read books together
➢ Tell each other stories
➢ Chat about things that you have read
➢ Talk about pictures in books
➢ Share stories even when you don’t have a book in front of you.
➢ Why not retell your favourite stories or take turns making up stories
using familiar story language.
Try out a range of picture books, comics, poems and rhymes.
You can read the same book over and over again. Familiar
books are comforting and build reading confidence.
You can choose new books – pick something together that you
can both enjoy.
Books don’t have to be full of words. Picture books are perfect
for sharing at any age and you can look at the pictures together and discuss what is
happening.
A trip to the library is the perfect opportunity for you and your child to look at books
together and borrow the ones you like the look of.
You can always have a chat with your child’s teacher, who will be able to
recommend books for different age groups, both new titles and old favourites.
Visit:
www.booktrust.org.uk/bookfinder
This will give you some great ideas for books. It is split up into age group and genre.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s reading, please speak to
the class teacher.
