Reading

Reading

Reading is actively promoted across the whole school.  All classes have reading areas with a wide range of books. All children have access to our library and are allowed to borrow books using the school 'Junior Librarian' programme.  At Athelstan we foster a love of reading and encourage our children to read a variety of materials.  Our reading books are phonetically decodeable ensuring children are applying the knowledge gained in our phonics lessons and encouraging them to independently read text from an early age.  Progression is ensured using banded books and ZPDs to both support and challenge through additional fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts for the children to read. In Key Stage 2 we have a wide range of texts for the children to access.  

Children are encouraged to read regularly at home and parents are provided with support to help with home reading.  

Phonics & Early Reading

Phonics is taught daily to all children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and KS1, with the expectation that they will have secured word recognition skills and be fluent readers by the end of KS1. As a school we follow Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. Based on the original Letters and Sounds this detailed programme provides a convenient, consistent and highly effective approach to teaching phonics, based on the latest research.

Guided Reading

Our Guided Reading scheme at Key stage 2 takes place 5 times a week. We follow a whole-class reading scheme and our texts reflect a range of genres and themes drawn from classic, modern and diverse literature with a language rich focus.

Accelerated Reading Scheme

We use the Accelerated Reading Scheme, which allows our children to track progress and encourage them to read a wide variety of genres. Online Star tests identify children’s current reading levels and guide children to choosing books at an appropriate level. On completing books, children take a short comprehension quiz and aim to score over 90%.

Reading is promoted across school in all curriculum areas, assessed continuously through formative assessments within guided reading sessions and recorded on our internal data system. From Yr2-Yr6 termly NFER tests are completed and results analysed by staff and Senior Leadership Team to inform future planning and tailored interventions. The book-led curriculum in our school has empowered our pupils to become independent, free-thinking readers who can actively discuss reading.

Our Accelerated Reading scheme also encourages our pupils to select books that match their needs and interests. Pupils take computerised quizzes on the books and earn AR points as they progress. The termly assessment tests allow us to track progress and share with parents.