English - Reading

Our philosophy for the teaching of reading

Whilst we ensure that there is a broad and rich curriculum, we prioritise and regard the mastering of foundational knowledge as crucial in the younger years. Reading and vocabulary development is an integral part of our curriculum. Pupils from all backgrounds, including those who are disadvantaged, are provided with the tools to access a broad curriculum within a language rich environment.

‘Learning is defined as an alteration in long-term memory.
If nothing has been altered in long-term memory, then nothing has been learned.’

Sweller et al. 2011

How do we teach Phonics and Reading?

Reading is complex and therefore our teaching and implementation of phonics teaching, guided reading sessions and additional interventions are reviewed and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that our phonics and reading program meets the needs of our pupils.

Fluency

At Manor Park First School, we use the DFE approved programme Pip and Pap which allows our phonics teaching and learning to be progressive throughout Reception to Year 2 and beyond. All children have discrete, daily phonics sessions in small groups where they revise previous learning, are taught new graphemes/phonemes, practise together and apply what they have learnt to their writing. Within Pip and Pap there is a focus on developing listening and speaking as well as vocabulary knowledge. This small group approach allows children to learn at their pace and build in daily, weekly and monthly retrieval practices to ensure that children are becoming fluent in reading by the end of Year 1. Additional afternoon sessions are taught to children who need extra time to learn some of the 44 phonemes because, as a school, we believe this foundational knowledge is the base for future success.

Through our phonics programme, the children are taught the 44 phonemes that make up all the sounds required for reading and spelling. These phonemes include those made by just one letter and those that are made by two or more. Children work through the different phases and as they grow in confidence and experience, they are introduced to alternative ways of representing the same sound.

Children who are struggling with fluency past the end of Year 2 receive additional support for as long as they need it in KS2 to ensure that all our children leave Manor Park as fluent readers. This includes regular 1:1 reading, participation in a 1:1 reading intervention (Dorset Reading Partners) and additional Phonics support.

Comprehension in KS1

We believe that comprehension skills need to be taught explicitly through a well-tailored and constantly reviewed whole school approach. However, the initial focus in Year R and Year 1 needs to be on fluency. The texts we choose for our Guided Reading sessions are adjusted to the children’s reading ability.

Weekly Guided Reading Structure Year 1

Tuesday	30 minute sessions 15 mins adult guided group 3 staff members Teaching: Fluency Chn make a prediction from the front cover eg: what do you think they are going to buy? Where are they going? As a group read the key sounds and Earth words from the book Teacher reads and the children follow with finger. Chn read individually first read - teacher homes in on each child individually Follow on activity: Common exception word quick write
Wednesday	30 minute sessions 15 mins adult guided group 3 staff members Teaching: Fluency As a group read the key sounds and Earth words from the book 2nd read - pick up from where you left off or re-read the book. Teacher to home in on each child. Follow on activity: Common exception words pyramid writing
Thursday	30 minute sessions 15 mins adult guided group 3 staff members Teaching: Prosody As a group read the key sounds and Earth words from the book Teacher models a sentence from the book with expression and prosody. MTYT Follow on activity: Common expectation words rainbow writing
Friday	30 minute sessions 15 mins adult guided group 3 staff members Teaching: comprehension Stem question Retrieval question ‘Find the page where …….’ *Vocab ‘On page , which word tells us that ……’ Inference ‘why do you think they did…..’ Verbally initially - moving towards recording in guided reading books (Spring 1 onwards)**
Daily 15 Minute read	Teacher reads aloud daily. Book chosen to develop language. Teacher uses the opportunity to ask questions and teach children language and comprehension understanding.

Weekly Guided Reading Structure in Year 2

Tuesday

30 minute sessions

15 mins adult guided group
2 staff members

Teaching: Fluency

Chn make a prediction from the front cover eg: what do you think they are going to buy? Where are they going?
As a group read the key sounds and Earth words from the book
Teacher reads the children follow with finger.
Chn read individually first read - teacher homes in on each child individually

Follow on activity:

Answer simple retrieval questions in the guided reading book (full sentences).

Wednesday

30 minute sessions

15 mins adult guided group
2 staff members

Teaching: Prosody

As a group read the key sounds and Earth words from the book
Teacher models a sentence from the book with expression and prosody. MTYT

Follow on activity:

Answer simple retrieval questions in the guided reading book (full sentences).

Thursday

30 minute sessions

15 mins adult guided group
2 staff members

Teaching: Comprehension (skill to be chosen for groups depending on teacher assessment)

Teach a skill and how to answer such questions. Model how to write answers on flip chart

Follow on activity:

Practise the skill taught independently by answering questions in books.

Friday

30 minute sessions

15 mins adult guided group
2 staff members

Teaching: Comprehension (skill to be chosen for groups depending on teacher assessment)

Teach skills and how to answer such questions. Model how to write answers on flip chart

Follow on activity:

Practise the skill taught independently by answering questions in books.

Daily 15 Minute read

Teacher reads aloud daily. Book chosen to develop language. Teacher uses the opportunity to ask questions and teach children language and comprehension understanding.

Comprehension in KS2

We believe that comprehension skills need to be taught explicitly through a well-tailored and constantly reviewed whole school approach. Guided reading takes place at least 4 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes, incorporating age-appropriate, challenging texts which are rich in vocabulary.

Our guided reading sessions have a clear focus on fluency and core comprehension skills. This strategy aims to develop depth in the pupils’ responses at every age. The clear structure of our guided reading sessions reflects our understanding that reading is “active” and the clear planning structure supports staff in delivering high quality reading sessions and ensures children have time to practise skills and embed their knowledge on how to answer different questions in line with our belief of spaced learning. We use differentiated texts to ensure that children are able to read texts fluently so that they can focus on learning comprehension skills. Every lesson starts with reading the text either with the teacher, independently or in pairs. Teachers model reading through whole-class, chorus reading or echo reading.

Weekly Guided Reading Structure KS2

Monday

GABBLE GABBLE SESSION

(Whole-class approach: exposure to vocabulary)

Vocabulary development and understanding based on the guided reading text

Tuesday

ACTIVATE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Reading session, pair, group reading – discussing the text and activating the background knowledge children need to answer questions (group approach).

Wednesday

SKILL SPECIFIC LESSON

Based on teacher assessment.

Inference, retrieval, author intent

Thursday

SKILL SPECIFIC LESSON

Based on teacher assessment.

Inference, retrieval, author intent

Friday

SKILL SPECIFIC LESSON

Based on teacher assessment.

Inference, retrieval, author intent