Reading

Intent

For pupils to succeed in education and beyond, reading needs to be the highest priority and as such is at the heart of our school’s curriculum. We aim for all our pupils – regardless of their needs, abilities or background – to learn to read fluently and with understanding. Once children can decode text effectively, we aim to build word recognition and develop comprehension skills in order to produce secure, confident, independent readers who enjoy and understand the benefits of reading.

As such, when leaving HJS, we aim for children to: 

• To be excited and motivated to read for pleasure.
• To demonstrate enthusiasm and confidence when discussing the wide range of authors, illustrators and text types they know.
• To be curious to explore new texts and question what they have read.
• To value the use of text as a tool for a gaining deeper understanding of areas of interest or for investigation including knowledge about themselves and the world in which they live.

Implementation

At Howden Junior School, reading comprehension is largely taught through whole class reading lessons. The focus of our reading teaching is vocabulary development, the development of explicit reading skills and immersion in a wide range of high-quality, age appropriate and diverse texts. Whole class reading sessions incorporate class novels as a stimulus for deeper thinking as well as a range of fiction and non-fiction texts which develop contextual knowledge and understanding whilst also providing opportunities for learning in other areas of the curriculum.

Our weekly whole class reading structure is set out as follows:

Reading Intervention

Read Write Inc – Our expectation is that all pupils should be ready for daily whole-class reading sessions on entry. However, those children whose decoding skills are not yet secure, access daily Read Write Inc sessions. Children in in Years 3 and 4 work within the Read Write Inc: Phonics scheme, moving onto Read Write Inc: Fresh Start in Years 5 and 6, if necessary. Throughout the programme, the children rapidly learn sounds and letters/groups of letters in ‘Speed Sound’ lessons. This knowledge is taught and consolidated every day. High frequency words, that are not phonetically regular, are taught as ‘tricky’ words and practiced frequently. Children read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words so that they experience plenty of success. Repeated readings of these texts support their increasingly fluent decoding. During sessions, teachers read aloud and discuss books with similar themes so children build up background knowledge ready for the next text. Children are assessed and regrouped every six weeks according to their phonic knowledge. Ongoing assessment means that groups are constantly adjusted to ensure the best progress for each child.

Accelerated Reader

At Howden Juniors, we are fortunate enough to have a fantastic school library offering a wide range of high quality and diverse fiction, non-fiction and picture books.

Once children can read fluently and independently, they start the Accelerated Reader programme. Accelerated Reader is an online programme that helps teachers manage and monitor children’s independent reading practice and is linked to a vast collection of books available in our library. The programme works by using ‘Star Reader’ tests to identify a child’s ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development), signposting children to a selection of books that will not only match their reading ability but also challenge and develop their vocabulary. Once the children finish the book they are reading, they take a short online quiz. The quiz checks that the children have read and understood the text.  It also enables teachers to closely monitor individual reading progress and ensure that children select books of an appropriate level which are challenging without being frustrating. Children using Accelerated Reader should therefore regularly experience success in their reading quizzes whilst having ownership over their reading choices. This makes independent reading a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience and encourages children to develop their own reading tastes.

Regular Reading

We encourage the children to read at home for at least 20 minutes three times each week. Children record their reading in a reading record which is checked weekly by their class teacher. We run a ‘100 Reads’ challenge throughout the school, whereby the children aim to reach ‘100 Reads’ during the school year. This is incentivised with a visit to our newly installed ‘Reading Vending Machine’.

In school, children are provided with the opportunity to read independently every day. Children should be heard reading by their class teacher at least once each week. Parent volunteers come into school on a regular basis to provide further opportunities for the children to be heard reading.

Reading for Pleasure

At Howden Junior School, we promote reading for pleasure as this itself plays a major role within a child’s reading development. We aim to do this in the following ways:

• Daily Story Time – Each day, teachers read and lead discussions around a class novel with the children in their class. Teachers are also seen as readers and regularly share their own reading choices.
• Reading Environment – We are a reading school and this is obvious from the minute you walk through the door! Books play a prominent part in display, both in the school corridors and in the classrooms. Each classroom has a designated reading area for the children to sit and enjoy reading independently as well as a phonics area where resources can be accessed as and when needed.
• School Library – Children are encouraged to visit our school library as often as possible. Every class is timetabled to visit at least once each week.
• Reading Buddies – Children are paired with a reading buddy in a different year group and have regular opportunities to read and share their reading choices with one another.
• Author Visits – We are fortunate enough to regularly welcome authors into our school community, both through the door and virtually. Children often leave such sessions inspired to read books by the author they have worked alongside. We also work closely with our Patron of Reading, James Nicol.
• Fundraising Events – We hold a number of whole school reading events throughout the year, such as a ‘Bedtime Story’ day. These days promote a love of and excitement for reading throughout the school whilst also providing funds for purchasing further reading resources. We also celebrate national reading days such as ‘World Book Day’.

Impact

We measure impact through learning walks, book looks, 1:1 reading feedback, look through reading records, formative and summative data and pupil/parent/teacher voice. Subject Leaders meet termly to evaluate impact and assess pupils’ learning.

Patron of Reading

We are DELIGHTED that the magical author (and Howden resident), James Nicol, became our Patron of Reading in January 2019.

A Patron of Reading is a school’s special children’s author, poet, storyteller or illustrator. We will develop a relationship with James over a period of time.

Everything James does is related to helping encourage and develop a reading for pleasure culture at our school.

We feel so privileged to have this incredibly special link with James, particularly because, not only are his books a firm favourite in our school, but also he is already such an active and well-loved member of our wider Howden community.

Keep checking in with this page to see how our relationship develops over time.

James first visited to our school will take place on ? when he will spent the whole day in school with us, getting to know the children and staff.

If you would like to learn more about James and his incredible books, then please make sure you check out his website: https://jamesnicolbooks.com