Reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn during their time at school. Reading, listening to and talking about stories and non-fiction develops children’s vocabulary, because they meet words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Understanding vocabulary is vital for comprehension and also for wider learning and progress across the entire curriculum.

 

Our school is renowned for working with many external partnerships and through the many connections such as inspirational writers/authors (Cressida Cowell) it allows us to improve and enhance our resources and inspire our pupils to love reading. National and Multinational businesses stock our extensive library.

Business volunteers enhance our reading provision every week hearing our vulnerable readers. This is through the ‘Right to Read’ programme. In addition, we have Beanstalk readers who work with children every week.

From Reception to Yr4, reading is taught through a carousel of activities. These activities include reading with a teacher or teaching assistant and written comprehensions. Yrs5 and 6 are taught through whole class reading. Children have focussed guided reading sessions each week and are expected to complete one written comprehension in that time.

One to one reading occurs in Reception and vulnerable readers are identified in each class to ensure reading progression and a love of reading. During the reading sessions, there is an emphasis on vocabulary, the retrieval of facts and inference. Novels are used to teach reading as well as a range of non-fiction texts. These texts are carefully chosen to ensure that there is progression and challenge across the school.

At Parklands, we aim to develop a love of reading, so children are encouraged to read for pleasure at home and school. Teachers read a variety of high-quality texts to the children on a regular basis.

We currently use a range of different reading schemes to meet the interests and individual need of each and every child.

 

Parklands Reading Strategy.

Our aim is that every child leaves Parklands Primary School a confident, fluent reader who loves reading and has a reading age that at least matches their chronological age.

1. Daily Reading Lesson
   * EY’s / Y1 – Daily Floppy Phonics Lessons
   * Y2 – Moving to Guided Reading
   * KS2 – Daily Reading Lessons with a focus on Reading Skills
   * Opportunities to discuss, talk and debate

2. Children Read to Daily
   * EY’s / KS1 / KS2 – Daily Class Read to the Class (see the Reading Spines below)

3. Reading For Pleasure
   * Mini Libraries in each class of quality books to engage emotions; be diverse; show different perspectives; include favourites from previous years so all children can access.
   * Key Stage 2 will undertake the Reading Challenge https://www.parklandsprimary.org.uk/reading-challenge/

4. Reading Records
   * Completed at home and in school to share the love of a new story

5. Independent Reading Time
   * Class sets of high-quality reading books from Leeds CC Library service and sponsors
   * KS2 linked to the reading Challenge

6. Promote a Love of Reading
   * Teachers model a love of reading and are excited about books
   * A wide range of authors and genres are discussed
   * Opportunities to share books, opinions and authors

7. Reading At Home
   * Reading Books are sent home at least twice a week and if the books need changing more often, then they will be changed
   * Now COVID issues are addressed, Reading cafes will start again giving tips on reading at home
   * Additional support will be given to children who require it

8. Reading Every Lesson
   * Teaching sequences linked to quality texts and novels
   * Reading and integration of texts incorporated where possible into all lessons
   * Quality modelling and engaging with texts as a Historian, a Geographer, a Scientists etc

 

Phonics and Early Reading

In school:

At Parklands Primary we follow the Letters and Sounds scheme of phonics teaching through ‘Floppy Phonics.’ We work in Partnership with the Outwood English Hub. We undertook a full review, training and invested £6000 in a new Phonic scheme and home reading to ensure we continue we close the gap. We have a newly appointed Phonics leader. Each child in Reception and Yr1 has a daily, minimum 20-minute phonics lesson, following the teaching sequence of revisit/ review – teach – practise – apply. In Yr2, children access a balance of both phonic and spelling punctuation and grammar (SPAG) lessons based on their individual needs and attainment. Reception and KS1 children are either taught as a whole class or sometimes put into small groups, based on regular assessments so that children’s learning needs are accurately matched to the correct provision. Small phonic sessions or interventions are delivered by teaching assistants and overseen by the class teacher, to provide complimentary teaching.

Sessions are lively, fast-paced, and fun. In a session, children are taught either phonemes/ digraphs/ trigraphs, high frequency and/or tricky words and these are consolidated through reading and writing. There is an emphasis on paired work and lots of opportunities to speak and listen, as well as to read and write the sounds.

At the end of Year 1 children have to take the national Phonics Test which tests children’s phonic knowledge. Here, they are required to read real and non-sense words, applying the skills they have learnt. Ideally children will have completed and consolidated Phase 5 during Year 1 and Phase 6 during Year 2, so that they can focus more on higher-level comprehension using increasingly challenging texts. Any child that does not complete the phonics programme will continue learning phonics throughout Year 3/4 during interventions.

 

*Please ensure your child’s Book Band Book, Reading Challenge Book and Reading Records are brought into school everyday because they will be used in lessons throughout the week.