Reading

Intent

Reading is at the heart of everything we do at High Hazels Academy as we want all of our children to be fluent and enthusiastic readers so that they can quench their thirst for knowledge, ignite their creativity and enjoy a life-long hobby. At High Hazels, we are driven to ensure we equip our children with the skills to be fluent readers as it is the gateway to all learning and opportunities for their futures.

Our reading curriculum is designed to achieve a balance between developing the Instructional Agenda (the skill) and the Pleasure Agenda (the will). This policy intends to promote a love of reading for all pupils who have the skills to independently and confidently access all areas of the curriculum so that they go on to be successful in Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond. Our reading curriculum is also planned in a way which promotes the cultural capital of all our children. We enhance our curriculum by providing access to a diverse range of texts including those which allow pupils to see themselves in books, understand others and our core values.

Implementation

At High Hazels Academy, our learning revolves around high quality, curriculum-linked texts, which promote the importance and a love of reading to all. Our pupils have a whole class reading lesson every day which is skill focused, inclusive and immersive. Reading is a prominent part of each day at High Hazels Academy: daily reading lessons, independent reading, reading in the wider curriculum and story time. Our daily reading lessons progress from 2-year-olds to year 6 to allow our pupils to develop their reading skills and become fluent readers. In foundation stage and year one (and at other points for identified pupils), children learn to decode through Read, Write, Inc. Phonics.  In all year groups, pupils are immersed in texts with the focus on rich vocabulary development, enhancing background knowledge and developing key reading strategies (see S.S.I.F. strategies document for more information).  In addition to this, children are taught how to apply these skills to explain their understanding of the text: their inferences, understanding of vocabulary and retrieval. Then they are given the opportunity to review their learning in a weekly review lesson, so they can embed the range of taught reading skills (see reading teaching structure below).

Alongside our reading lessons, we ensure that all children develop their reading fluency through having the opportunity to read to adults and independently. Our 1:1 reading programme supports all pupils through their R.W.I reading programme and beyond to practice their word reading, expression, phrasing, pace and smoothness (fluency rubric). Please see our phonics curriculum page for further information on the early reading 1:1 reading programme.

Reading for pleasure

We are driven to promote a passion for reading in our families and children as we know how vital it is for the pupils’ development and wellbeing. We encourage and model a love of reading through a wide range of authors and text types, throughout our curriculum, our reading for pleasure programme and at home. Our school day is threaded with opportunities for children to read for pleasure, share their thoughts on books and see good models of fluent readers. As part of our commitment to our community, we ensure that children have access to books at home, this is through Bug club online and/or children taking books from their class libraries. Children are expected to read every day and document this in their reading records.  We encourage parents to get their children enthused in reading books by taking them to the local library, giving them time and a cosy space to read, and parents sharing stories together as a family. We do this through school library visits, parent workshops and parental visits to our book talk time.  

Impact

As we believe that reading is key to all learning, the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the result of statutory assessments. Children have the opportunity to enter the wide and varied worlds that reading opens up to them. As they develop their own interest in books, a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles is enhanced.

Through the teaching of systematic phonics and reading skills, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident readers who can apply their knowledge and experience to a range of texts through the Key Stage 2 curriculum and into Key Stage 3, 4 and beyond.

Reading Workshop Presentation

Reading Workshop Leaflet

Long term English curriculum plan

Reading teaching structure

Reading progression flow charts

Reading progression of skills

SSIF strategies document