Changing Books

 EYFS and KS1 books will be changed twice a week as identified by the individual classes. Parents are expected to hear their child read every evening and comment in the reading record. This is flexible as sometimes children will benefit from rereading the same book and having further discussion on its content. 

KS2 children should change their books as they finish them, books should be taken home daily. Parents are expected to hear their child read and sign the reading record, comments as welcome also. 

Assessment 

Teachers track pupils’ progress in reading at the end of each term to ensure that assessment information is up to date (Target Tracker). Every term, each child is given a reading judgement, these must be scrutinised and teachers will consider where each child best fits using their knowledge of the children and all available evidence, e.g. guided reading record books/reading journals etc. Children are assessed in Reception, Years 1 and 2 using the RW Inc. Phonics assessments. Once they have completed the  RW Inc. scheme they are assessed through the PM benchmark assessments and the termly NFER assessments to support the teacher’s judgment of the child’s reading ability. Children are grouped according to these judgements, but groupings should remain flexible according to individual need and progress.

• Assessment of progress is crucial to effective learning and progress in reading and it must be the basis for guided reading groups within each class which will be based upon ability.
• Phonic tracking will be undertaken with pupils throughout the Foundation Stage and reading assessments made at the beginning of Key Stage 1. The purpose of these will be to ensure children are reading within the appropriate ‘level’ and can be grouped with pupils of similar ability.
• Brief assessment notes will be made for each pupil for each guided reading session on a common record sheet/ planner. This will help inform the teaching focus for subsequent sessions.
• At the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, pupils will be assessed against the Early Learning Goals for Reading. 
• Each term, a child’s National Curriculum judgement will be assessed and recorded on the class and year group trackers. This will be discussed at Pupil Progress meetings and analysed by SLT. 
• Teachers will also take part in moderations within their year groups as well as across Key Stage and with the SJS Academy schools. This will provide an opportunity for professional discussion using the evidence the teacher has to support their judgements. 
• Pupils undertake End of Key Stage 1 and end of Key stage 2 tests and teacher assessments at the end of Year 2 and 6. Years 3 - 5 take termly NFER tests in Reading.
• New pupils to the school will take a reading test to baseline their attainment as they enter St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School.

Developing a love of reading

• Book corners are used and are well resourced with age related texts each classroom

• The Class Novel is shared during daily story time sessions. 

• All children have a weekly Library slot (class library)  with the opportunity to choose a book to take home which is the child’s choice.

• Children make an annual visit to local Library 

• World Book Day is celebrated across the school

• We host two Scholastic book fairs

• Reading ambassadors facilitate a Lunchtime Book Club in the Outdoor Reading Area during lunchtimes.

• Reading buddies 

 Teaching of Reading Skills 

 The teaching of reading skills follows the National Curriculum. The teaching is further broken down into the reading content domains as shown below. At St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, we use the VIPERS strands. VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts.

Vocabulary

Inference

Prediction

Explanation

Retrieval

Sequence or Summarise

Each skill is taught explicitly through the use of different text types. The intention is for all pupils to become enthusiastic, fluent and competent readers. Reading starts with the use of non-text examples, incorporating pictures and video clips as appropriate. Shorter, simpler texts are then introduced before the use of longer/ harder texts. Time is taken to decode texts and understand the skills before the use of written comprehension. The intended outcome is that all children are able to record answers in a written format.

Throughout the year all children in Key Stage 1 and 2 participate in a daily carousel of reading activities to include group reading with the class teacher, participating in a Handwriting activity, a Grammar activity, a Spelling activity and individual reading of a book of their choice. A range of texts are used, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry to broaden the children’s understanding of text types.

 Guided Reading 

Daily Guided Reading occurs outside of the main English session. In Year 3-6, all classes will have five allocated whole class reading slots in the timetable. This means that children are read with at least once  a week by an adult in school. 

 Guided Reading provides opportunities for the children to:

• Read for interest, information and enjoyment.
• Read a range of texts including fiction, non-fiction, play scripts and poetry appropriate to their ability, both in book format and on screen ICT texts. 
• Read regularly at school and at home. 
• Talk confidently about their reading.
• Be able to orchestrate a full range of reading cues (phonic, graphic, syntactic, contextual) to read and be able to correct their own mistakes. Our teaching will however reflect that phonics should be the prime approach children use in learning to read. 
• Develop confidence in their ability to select reading material independently. 

PM Benchmarking

PM Benchmarking is a reading assessment resource used in our school to accurately track and assess students' reading progress. It involves using PM Benchmark Kits, which contain levelled reading books and assessment tools, to determine a student's reading level and identify areas for improvement. The system aims to ensure consistent and accurate levelling of readers, meeting National Curriculum and Ofsted requirements.