How we teach Reading at Meadowbank Primary School

How we teach Reading at Meadowbank Primary School?

Helping our children to become life-long readers "i like how you can turn a page to find out more."

"it helps me escape to somewhere else, somewhere exiting."

"Reading helps me discover more about the world around me."

What does it mean to be a reader?

We believe that a love of reading runs parallel with the progression of word recognition and language comprehension as children move through school.

In every year, your child will be taught the fundamentals for word recognition and application as well as how to retrieve key information; sequence stories and events; make inferences and use evidence, make predictions from what they already know; explain the mean of key terminology and comment of the use of vocabulary; summarise the main themes and events in a text and explain how authors convey meaning. This progresses as the children move from Key stage 1 to Key stage 2 while providing them with opportunities to practice and apply these skills to a range of quality and enriching literature.

Reading is a gateway to the rest of the curriculum and the world around each and every child and here at Meadowbank, every child is given the key to that gateway of possibilities.

Developing a love of reading We believe that a love of reading runs parallel with the progression of word recognition and language comprehension as children move through school.

Children are exposed to high quality texts across all years groups here at Meadowbank and teachers work collaboratively with the children to select engaging texts and authors that the children are interested in. Within every classroom, there is a reading area with a wealth of literature for the children to choose from including: The Teacher's Favourite Authors Our Favourite Author's Aspirational Reads Texts linked to our current learning Where possible class texts are used with the children within our group reading sessions, linking to the classes half termly "Big question".

We believe in modelling and leading by example here at Meadowbank, promoting role models within our children. We set reading buddies across the key stages, targeting our early readers and allowing them opportunities to read and share with the older children in school. Our UKS2 buddies are well trained in supporting both fluency and decoding as well as providing challenge and discussion.

Teaching reading across Foundation and Key stage 1 It is important to equip the children with the essential skills and experiences, which underpin the early teaching of reading and in Foundation stage, the children are immersed in an environment to support their development of Spoken Language, Physical Activity, Meta-Linguistic awareness and opportunities to symbolise these skills through facilitated activities.

Within Early Years and Key stage 1, the Letters and Sounds synthetic phonics programme is followed, where children progress through the phrases through discrete daily sessions, which follow a four part sequence: Revisit and Review, Teach, Practise and Apply. Our children are then exposed to high quality experiences to allow them to apply these discrete skills into their wider environment and community. All our staff in school receive regular training to ensure they are confident and secure in the teaching of early reading, drawing upon expertise across the school – we see all staff as teachers of reading and ensure appropriate training and professional development opportunities are provided to allow adults to reflect on their own expertise and develop themselves as life-long learners.

Teaching reading across key stage 1 and 2 At Meadowbank, a whole approach to the delivery of reading sessions is followed, allowing flexibility where necessary and progression to be seen across the key stages.

We encourage the use of a whole class text, where possible, in order to ensure wide and rich exposure to high quality texts to ALL children – there is no limits to the expectations of children. Our teaching staff are highly skilled in providing children with purposeful experiences to develop the key skills that the children are assessed against at the end of KS1 and KS2.

Key stage 1 - Vocabulary, Retrieval, Inference, Predict and Sequence Key stage 2 - Vocabulary, Retrieval, Inference, Predict, Sequence, Summarise, Compare, Structure and layout We use the VIPERS acronym, displayed in classrooms, as a consistent approach in aiding the children to recall these main reading domains and to become fluent and confident within their language comprehension.

Teaching reading in Keystage 2 As the children move into Key stage 2, Group Reading is taught daily, alongside 1:1 readers and personalised programmes, with explicitly taught skills through the use of the VIPERS acronym.

Class texts are chosen based on the children's interests and from the progression of Literature map we are developing here at Meadowbank - we want to ensure we provide children with a rich reading capital. Our aim is to expose our children to a wealth of Literature that is engaging, challenging and diverse.

We have a clear teaching sequence for reading in KS2 where all teachers plan opportunities over the week for children to: Read independently and aloud to adults to develop their fluency Discuss the text with adults to support their articulation Question their peers and deepen their thinking Apply their understanding to explicit skill based learning Become familiar with unseen texts and responding to these

VIPERS helps me to understand the text i am reading - i can use evidence to support my ideas and then ask more questions to my peers It is also important to us that reading is embedded in our whole curriculum offer for children to embed the importance of "reading to learn and understand the world".

fostering a reading community We are proud of the reading community we have fostered over the years and the enrichment we offer to our children here at Meadowbank: Our skilled team invite parents in to attend reading work shops for Foundation Stage, Key stage 1 and Key stage 2, sharing the expectations and offering resources and support for at home.

All our classes visit our school Library weekly, where they will share a book together or use their library card to choose their own book.

In Foundation stage, we host mystery readers, encourage parents to share stories and are a part of the Book trust Book start, gifting books to our early readers.

In Key stage 2, there are opportunities to join book clubs held at lunch time with skilled adults in school, developing questioning and thinking.

The whole school celebrates World Book day yearly, dedicating a week to sharing and exploring a text as whole school from FS to Year 6.

There are regular 'Drop Everything And Read' events in school and competitions for children to "get caught reading".

Classes visit our Local Cheadle Library yearly to learn more about reading in our community.

our recommended reading lists We love for our children to share and recommend their favourite authors and stories with us in class as well as providing them with our recommendations too.

Here are some of our TOP picks of books to read before leaving primary school.

Foundation Stage Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Nicola Baxter The Stickman - Julia Donaldson Peace at Last – Jill Murphy What a Ladybird Heard - Julia Donaldson We’re going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen The Three Little Pigs – Ed Bryan Stanley's stick – John Hegley Bog Baby – Jeanne Willis The Wonder – Faye Hanson Tree – Patricia Hegarty

our recommended reading lists We love for our children to share and recommend their favourite authors and stories with us in class as well as providing them with our recommendations too.

Here are some of our TOP picks of books to read before leaving primary school.

Keystage 1 Supertato by Sue Hendra Here we are by Oliver Jeffers The Grufalo by Julia Donaldson Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak The tiger who came for tea by Judith Kerr The day the crayons quit by Drew Daywalt Beegu by Alexis Deacon Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers The Queen's hat by Steve Anthony

our recommended reading lists We love for our children to share and recommend their favourite authors and stories with us in class as well as providing them with our recommendations too.

Here are some of our TOP picks of books to read before leaving primary school.

Keystage 2 The Owl who was afraid of the dark by Jill Tomlinson The Iron Man by Ted Hughes Charlie and the Chocolate factory by Roald Dahl The boy in the dress David Walliams My brother is a Superhero by David Solomons Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackman Harry Potter by J K Rowling Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo Wonder by R.J Palecio The boy at the back of the class by Onjali Q Rauf Holes by Louis Sacher Oranges in No mans land by Elizabeth Laird Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian