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Reading

At North Scarle Primary, reading lies at the heart of our curriculum. We view reading as the gateway to the curriculum and know that reading is a key factor contributing to academic success. It is our intent for our children to become confident, fluent, lifelong readers.

Inclusivity: Our personalised reading curriculum embraces diverse, carefully selected texts that ensure children see themselves in the texts we read and gain an insight into the lives of others.

Enriched: Our enriched reading curriculum allows children to foster a love of reading through our carefully selected class texts. Children are read to daily in the classroom and this protected time is looked forward to by both children and staff each day!

Aspirational: Our consistently high expectations ensure that all children are able to achieve and become fluent readers. Staff are highly trained and skilled to support those who find reading difficult. This support is closely monitored to children catch up quickly.

Inspirational: Our inspiring reading curriculum allows learners to engage with a variety of high-quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts.
 

Phonics

Our pupils learn to read and write effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme. Children make a strong start in Reception as we begin teaching phonics straight away. Pupils progress onto whole class reading lessons and RWI spelling once they can read with accuracy and speed. Pupils working within Orange or below access the full ‘Get Writing’ aspect of the programme, progressing onto whole class writing lessons from Yellow.

Who accesses our RWI programme?

• Pupils in Year R to Year 2 who are learning to read and write;

• Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly;

• Struggling readers in Years 5 and 6 follow RWI Fresh Start.

 

Class texts

"If teachers want to ensure maximum achievement in reading and maximum readiness for college, text selection deserves greater attention and intentionality. This does not mean that every book needs to be selected using a 'maximum value for learning' calculation. Some should be; we hope many will. Choosing others sheerly for the pleasure of it or on a lark is fine as long as the overall portfolio of books is intentional and balanced."

Doug Lemov, Reading Reconsidered 

In his book ‘Reading Reconsidered’, Doug Lemov points out that there are five types of texts that children should have access to in order to successfully navigate reading with confidence. These are complex beyond a lexical level and demand more from the reader than other types of books. 

At North Scarle Primary, our class texts are read to the children during story time. They have been carefully selected for each class so that by the time the children reach year 6 and beyond, they are ready to access the more complex books expected of them in secondary schools.

In addition to our selected texts, teachers can choose to read books based on the children's interests or our wider curriculum content. Non-fiction should also be read to help further develop children’s background knowledge of the subjects they are studying.