English
Together, as one, we support each other to flourish and succeed
Reading Intent
We support all our children to be avid readers; reading fluently and widely in order to develop views about the wider worlds and express their preferences and opinions. Through the consistent use of whole class texts in English lessons, children are inspired to read challenging texts and to read for pleasure. Children who are challenged by basic skills of reading are well supported to gain the self-confidence that will enable them to read and access age-related texts. Calming areas have been developed in classrooms and across the school grounds to enable them to access their independent reading material and to choose it wisely; to enjoy reading for pleasure and support others to do the same.
Reading Implementation
Careful selection of class texts across the school, provide a wide range of genres and authors. Texts are chosen to provoke and challenge thoughts and access reading material outside of their own experiences. Throughout the key stage, texts are progressively more challenging in both content and difficulty level.
Reading is taught through whole class texts and discussion as part of every English lesson (one hour per day). The teacher supports children to understand the text, to discuss it and to ask and answer challenging questions about it. Reading is then the stimulus for all writing tasks, making reading the thread of all English lessons.
Comprehensive skills are taught discretely, outside of the English daily hour. Sessions are short, fast-paced and highly structured with a high level of questioning between teacher and child. Texts are chosen to challenge and develop comprehension skills. Children in Years 3 to 5 are taught the skills of information retrieval, deduction, inference and authorial intent, and Year 6 provides the opportunity for children to hone these skills of comprehension, developing a more thorough and accurate approach to comprehension.
The nature of a Junior School evidences that some children will need further Phonics support during their time at our school. They are baseline assessed for Phonics in October of Year 3 and those identified as needing further support to successfully complete phase 3 and 5 phonics are given the opportunity of small group teaching interventions in Reading and Spelling by a specialist teacher/cover supervisor.
Impact Reading
Children are able to read fluently, enjoy the process of reading and choose appropriate reading material to read for pleasure. They have the skills and confidence to discuss the texts they read, formulate and express opinions. Across school, through the development of reading areas and the availability of high quality and diverse texts within their classroom and curriculum, a culture has been created of children reading independently; choosing books to read that challenge their thoughts and ideas; intelligently discussing the books they have access to; and making book recommendations to their peers.
Assessment and Reporting
Formative assessment in Reading is ongoing and takes many forms. Within each year group, teachers consistently and continually assess pupil knowledge and understanding of a text through effective and skilled questioning and daily monitoring and marking of work.
Additionally, each teacher utilises a range of different assessment opportunities for reading that apply to their individual context, such as: within English lessons: reading comprehensions, chapter summaries, and opportunities for reflection about the texts studied. Whereas, outside of English lessons, there are additional reading assessment opportunities, through multiple reading sessions each week, every child reads to an adult at least once per week in years 3 and 4, and across school, children are provided with opportunities for silent, independent reading.
These assessment opportunities identify any gaps in learning as and when they occur, so that teachers are well-informed to act upon and address them in a timely manner.
The summative assessment schedule for each year group is outlined below:
- Upon entering Year 3, all children are baseline tested for reading to give a clear picture of individual pupil’s starting points with regards to the Key Stage 1 reading SATs objectives.
- Within each year group, all children take the NFER reading tests in February (mid-year assessments) and in June, end-of-year assessments.
- In the Summer term of Year 6, all eligible pupils sit the end of Key Stage 2 SATs.
Assessment information is kept by each teacher, the school the Assessment Co-ordinator and the English subject leaders.
The standardised results that are generated from these tests provide an accurate and detailed picture of each child’s progress in Mathematics from the beginning of their time at South Crosland Junior School right up to the end of Key Stage 2. Reading data for each year group is discussed as part of regular Pupil Progress Meetings and informs whole school data, which is monitored to identify patterns and issues. This whole school data is discussed with the SLT and informs any decisions on interventions and catch up one-to-one programmes as well as the School Development Plan, as appropriate.
Achievement and attitude to learning are reported to Parents and Carers three times each year, as part of the School Reporting Calendar (December, March and July).