Reading has a high priority in school and all children have a daily 50 minute reading lesson.  When children join us in Year 3, baselines and phonic screenings are used to identify children who need support with phonics. Additionally, baselines, such as Salford reading tests and fluency data, are collected for all children and reviewed at a three points throughout the year. Struggling readers are quickly identified and timely interventions are put in place, such as a phonic programme, fix it sessions or priority reading with a Reading Champion.

For children in Year 3 and 4, who are struggling with reading and phonics, Read Write Inc. is used as a catch-up intervention programme during this lesson. In year 5 and 6, those children who need phonic intervention complete the Fresh Start programme, RWI's sister programme for older children. This programme is highly effective as a 'catch-up intervention for low-attaining readers'.

Fluency development

Identified children are baselined at the beginning of the year using an appropriate text for the child's reading age. We record children's success in the four areas of fluency: pace, expression and volume, smoothness and phrasing. Throughout the year, we measure the children's progress from their starting point. The assessment is used to inform our fluency interventions. In addition to this, when children are heard reading by the Reading Champion of the year group, they are aware of which area of fluency to work on. 

Reading Schemes

We use Collins Big Cat as our home reading scheme which has an extensive range of fiction and non-fiction texts.  Our expectation is that children are reading at home at least 4+ times per week and reading records are checked on a weekly basis.

For those children completing a phonic programme, Read, Write Inc home readers are given so that children can practise the sounds that they have been taught that week, at home with a different book. The highly-structured phonic sequence ensures reading success and building of confidence. Fresh Start children take home their module book so that they can practise rereading a familiar text.