Jenkin Avenue, Brightside, Sheffield S9 1AN

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Reading

The Reading Curriculum at Limpsfield

Intent

Through reading, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Exposure to literature plays a key role in this development. Reading also enables pupils to acquire new knowledge and to build on what they already know. At Limpsfield, our intent is to encourage all pupils to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction genres. By doing this we will help them to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, to gain knowledge across the curriculum and to develop their comprehension skills. It is our intention to ensure that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, across the curriculum. This will enable them to access the next stage of their education and provide them with a key life skill.

The Teaching of Reading

At Limpsfield Junior School, reading is recognised as a core skill that is key to developing the child as a learner. To ensure that we teach reading effectively it is an integral of our daily timetable and developed across the whole school curriculum. Below are the key elements of our reading curriculum.

Reciprocal Reading: Regular reciprocal reading lessons provide children with the opportunity to build their understanding of fiction and non-fiction texts and how to read for understanding. These lessons regularly involve teachers modelling the reading process and supporting children to apply the skills learnt. Children are also encouraged to apply these skills across the broader curriculum. An overview of our whole school reading progression can be accessed below.

Limpsfield Junior School Reading Progression

Year 3 Reciprocal Reading Yearly Overview

Year 4 Reciprocal Reading Yearly Overview

Year 5 Reciprocal Reading Yearly Overview

Year 6 Reciprocal Reading Yearly Overview

Content Domain

Independent Reading: Within the school timetable children are given opportunities to read independently and for pleasure. We regularly review the books that are available to children to ensure that they are able to access engaging and relevant texts. Children are supported to develop their understanding of how to choose appropriate texts and to build reading stamina. These sessions are also used by teaching staff to listen to children read and monitor their progress as well as providing opportunities for children to engage in ‘book clubs’ where they can share and discuss texts with their peers.

School Library: Children are timetabled to regularly visit the school library and encouraged to share and select books that they are interested in. The school library contains a rich variety of fiction and non-fiction texts that are regularly reviewed for their relevance and appeal to children.

Class Texts: Teachers regularly expose their children to appropriate whole class fiction texts. We feel very strongly that this helps to develop a love of stories, supports concentration and develops memory skills. We also select these books to help develop children’s wider understanding of the world and to support our broader curriculum.

Phonics: The vast majority of our Y3 children transition to our school from Brightside Nursery Infant School. This school is an outstanding provider that is recognised for its effective approach to the teaching of phonics. As such, many of our children enter the junior stage of their education competent in phonics and ready to move on to the next stage of their reading development. However, teachers will continue to reinforce the phonological knowledge gained in KS1 through the schools spelling strategy and where opportunities arise. Each class will display the complex speed sounds which teachers will use to support this learning.

For those children who do require further support with their phonics. Where this is identified, the school approach is based around the Read, Write Inc phonics scheme. Targeted children will also access Lexia (an online reading program) which has strands in developing phonological awareness and phonics.

Spelling: The teaching of spelling helps to support the teaching of reading through vocabulary development and the reinforcement of phoneme-grapheme correspondence. Children progressively work through the words and spelling patterns identified in the national curriculum.

Vocabulary: We have a whole school approach to vocabulary development that supports children to be able to read for understanding. Word Aware strategies are used within the classroom to explore and use versatile vocabulary. Technical vocabulary is also identified across the curriculum and explicitly taught to children to support their understanding of different subjects. 

Reading at Home: Developing a love of reading is one of the most important ways that parents/carer can support their children. Children are encouraged to regularly read to an adult at home and this is supported through a whole school reward system. Where we are aware that reading at home is challenging then we will endeavour to support children in school. We have a banded reading scheme in school that helps children to read at an instructional level and these support home reading. Children are also encouraged to take home and enjoy books that they can access at an independent level.

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