Intent:

At St. Pius X Catholic Primary School we believe in the importance of nurturing a love of books and reading through developing pupils’ decoding and comprehension skills. We recognise that these two elements are intertwined and that children need both in order to become life-long readers and we have developed a coherent whole-school strategy for promoting reading for pleasure.

We recognise that being able to read well is a key life skill for children and believe that every child can learn to read with the right teaching and support.  We believe that children should be read to during the school day, and that every member of staff should be an advocate for reading.  We have worked hard to develop the school environment to support children’s enjoyment of reading, placing reading and books at the centre of the curriculum.  Across the whole school, the teaching of reading and writing is based upon and taught through high quality texts.

Implementation:

Phonics:

To fully embed our beliefs around early reading, our daily teaching of phonics follows these principles.  The progression within the phonics curriculum is mapped out here. 

Reading:

We use books from Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revise to teach reading in Early Years and KS1. Alongside these, we use texts which the children are studying in their English lessons. The core texts provide the basis of our English curriculum and teachers use a wider range of books and text types in addition to these to ensure every pupil has access to a broad and rich range of books. 

We develop children’s comprehension and higher order reading skills in a number of ways:

• explicit teaching of these skills in English lessons throughout the school
• explicit comprehension teaching 4 times a week in KS2. Twice a week the children focus on their class book and twice a week on other texts.
• lessons include practical activities to engage children in comprehension such as conscience alley, diamond 9s, debates and so on.  
• questioning of children about the books they are reading
• reading comprehension exercises and reading assessments, completed individually, in pairs, groups or as a whole class, plus opportunities to review and discuss answers
• reading and analysing texts in other subject areas across our curriculum
• asking questions and discussing our class books
• taking the opportunity to discuss vocabulary throughout the school day
• our support for the development of children’s speaking skills and listening comprehension, through work on vocabulary extension and language comprehension.

Reading Curriculum Map

Supporting the development of reading throughout the curriculum and school day:

Reading is an integral part of other lessons across the curriculum, including through reading and interpreting texts of some length in RE, History, Geography, Science etc. and reading questions and instructions in all curriculum areas.  Reading fluency is also developed through reading words to songs and hymns in assemblies and music lessons. 

Additional support for reading:

• Children who need extra support are identified early and interventions are put in place.  Appropriate support is given by the teacher or teaching assistant.
• Across the school, we provide extra practice and support for children who are reluctant or less confident readers e.g. daily 1:1 reading, reading groups, targeted reading interventions.
• Children who do not pass the Phonics Screening Check in Year One go to receive daily support with their reading.
• Children who have not passed the Phonics Screening Check by the end of Year Two, go on to receive Precision Teaching 1:1 with a trained teacher or TA. 

Supporting reading for pleasure:

‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.’ (OECD 2002) ‘The will influences the skill and vice versa.’ (OECD 2010) 

Reading for pleasure is of utmost importance at St Pius X, we endeavour to embed a love of reading in a number of ways.

Whole school reading incentives are applied across the school to encourage the children to read at home, they can be found here for KS1 and here for KS2. 

105 Books to Read before leaving St Pius X Catholic Primary School

Impact:

Through our Reading provision at St Pius X pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally and intellectually. Our pupils read widely to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading feeds our pupils’ imaginations and opens up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for their curious young minds.

What do our pupils think?

‘I love reading, I like to read a lot at home and in school. I am reading Tracy Beaker at the moment which is so funny. I love it. You should read it.’ – Ava, Year 4

‘I like to read so it’s great that we get to read so much in school. I am reading ‘I swapped my brother on the internet’ which I found in our school Library.’ Emil, Year 2

Click here to see reading in action at St Pius X Catholic Primary School.