Reading

Reading for Pleasure is fundamental to Atwood’s culture and curriculum in ‘creating readers not just pupils who read.’ We place quality children’s literature at the heart of our reading curriculum. Books are chosen with strong human themes that enable children to inhabit the world of a story and characters with whom they are invested. Children experience quality books across a wide range of literary forms which both reflect and broaden their lived experience. Learning to read is a skill prioritised at Atwood as we know it is the gateway to the wider curriculum which proves vital not just for secondary education but beyond in later life. Children progress from learning to read, to reading to learn, enabling them to access a curriculum rich in literary works that expands their knowledge of the world. The importance of talk and stories, and the critical links between these, especially the role stories play in developing young children’s vocabulary and language begins in the Early Years. As children progress through the school, they are taught not only the strategies to decode texts successfully with fluency, but also to become metacognitive readers. The act of reading expands understanding of language, vocabulary and knowledge of the world. If children are taught to read for themselves, they gain the skills to tackle challenging texts themselves.

At Atwood, we recognises that Early Reading encompasses more than just phonics. Phonological awareness is introduced from Nursery and taught throughout Reception and Key Stage 1, enabling children to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. Additionally, vocabulary development is fostered through story time, even before children can read independently. By nurturing both phonological awareness and vocabulary, we lay a strong foundation for children's reading and language skills.

Ark Atwood uses Ruth Miskin's Read Write Inc. Phonics programme to teach Reception and KS1 children to read and write, as well as KS2 students who need to catch up. It is a complete literacy programme taught for 45 minutes a day in Reception and an hour a day in Year 1 and above. Children are assessed every half term to group children to be taught at their reading level. It has produced excellent results for our end of year Y1 phonics tests, with a proven record developing:

• fluent, enthusiastic readers
• a deeper comprehension of texts
• confident speakers
• keen writers

Throughout the programme, children are taught to:

• learn to read and write letter-sound correspondences quickly
• decode effortlessly, spell and handwrite easily
• comprehend what they read
• read with fluency and expression
• write confidently using oral rehearsal
• work effectively with a partner to articulate their learning at every step

There are some pupils who need more support than most. Those identified as needing more support receive an extra fifteen minutes' tuition every day from highly trained teaching staff.

Following on from the robust phonics program, children’s reading skills mean they can access an increasing range of texts as they move up the school. Immediately after phonics the Year 2 Comprehension programme acts as a gateway between KS1 and KS2 where the children practise fluency and comprehension strategies with the Read, Write Inc Literacy and Language texts.

In Key Stage Two, whole books, not extracts, are used to teach reading with such books studied in depth over several weeks in English lessons. The selection criteria of books ensure that: they reflect pupils’ realities; are mix of classics, modern classics and representative texts; an appropriate level of challenge; instil behaviours and values and (where appropriate) linked to humanities topics. Reading aloud is an integral approach to teaching reading with pupils encouraged to make meaning through rich discussion and engagement with a book which promotes a strong culture of reading for pleasure, as well as demonstrate what skilled readers do to make meaning from a text. Reading lessons focus on developing comprehension strategies including: activating and using background knowledge; generating and asking questions; making predictions; visualising; monitoring comprehension and summarising.

We provide books from the Reading Roadmap (a scheme of dedicated, age-appropriate book titles for years 3/4 and years 5/6) for children to take home and read. We also have an incredibly stocked library with a variety of current genres and authors, as well book corners where children can choose an additional 'reading for pleasure' book to either read at home or at school.

Beyond reading lessons, teachers work to inspire pupils and engage them in reading widely to create a school culture that values and supports reading for pleasure. Children are read to on a daily basis across the school. Every classroom has an inviting book corner or ‘mini library’ which is refreshed regularly encouraging children to choose and borrow books for pleasure.  Pupils also have the opportunity to partake in a weekly ‘book club’ involving ‘book talk’ and book recommendations from adults and peers. This is followed by a trip to the school library. Younger pupils also have the opportunity to visit the local library on a half termly basis.