Reading 

Statement of intent

Sound English skills are essential for progress across the curriculum and to prepare pupils effectively for tasks of adult life.

All teachers have a responsibility to develop pupils’ competence in reading, writing, speaking and listening in their own subjects and to ensure that pupils become competent users of language, and can access the curriculum effectively and achieve their potential.

Hillside Community Primary School:

• Recognises the effect that a confident, fluent and coherent understanding of English will have on a pupil’s progress, both inside and outside of the school environment.
• Understands how a strong grounding in English will impact the future learning and development of a pupil in all aspects of their life
• Provides a balanced and broad curriculum which encompasses writing practice, including handwriting, spelling, widening vocabulary, and writing for different styles, purposes, and audiences, as well as focusing on spoken English, reading, grammar and pronunciation.
• Ensures that all staff members are aware of planning, assessment, teaching and learning requirements for the English curriculum.
• Ensures that all pupils know how to plan, practise and evaluate their work.
• Ensures that all pupils understand all elements of English, as per the national curriculum.

Key Learning in Reading - Taken from Lancashire Literacy Team

What is Key Learning in Reading?
The Key Learning in Reading statements relate to the age appropriate reading skills, knowledge and understanding for each year group. These key pieces of learning will support pupils in becoming effective and reflective independent readers.

Where have they come from?
The Key Learning statements have been identified primarily from the National Curriculum 2014 programmes of study. Other key documents cross referenced in their preparation include the Early Years Foundation Stage documents and Lancashire Assessment and Progression in Reading.

How are they different from the National Curriculum programmes of study?
The aim was to specify the key learning in reading for each year group, rather than age-phases in Key Stage 2. Further details have also been added to clarify and exemplify the statements in the programmes of study.

How might Key Learning in Reading be useful?
The Key Learning statements should help to focus whole class teaching and could be considered as unit objectives. Taught in the context of lively, engaging and creative units of work, they help to ensure that pupils make progress as readers. Teaching should ensure that skills are modelled and scaffolded and that pupils are given opportunities to apply them in a range of different contexts. Regular teaching of skills would normally take place through a combination of lively, engaging shared reading, focused, needs-based guided reading and the daily read-aloud programme. The texts used should be high quality, interesting, engaging and fascinating. Texts from a wide range of genres and authors should be read. Reading skills should be regularly applied across the curriculum.

Why are the Key Learning in Reading statements not levelled?
The key skills are age appropriate and are therefore particularly suited to supporting whole class teaching. Levelled statements, useful for supporting next steps teaching for groups (including guided reading) can be found in Lancashire Assessment and Progression in Reading and Children’s Targets for Reading

At Hillside we cover a wide range of texts within our curriculum. There are opportunities everyday for children to read collaboratively and independently to promote and share our love of reading. Our school has a great extent of books! In each classroom the children have access to a class library and we are also lucky enough to have a fantastic school library which is well stocked with a range of fiction and non-fiction books for children of all ages and different interests. We know how important finding a good book is but we also know how hard it is to know which books are suitable so we have put together these collections of books we recommend for extended reading at home to enhance our bespoke curriculum.