Reading at St Augustine's

At St. Augustine’s School, the curriculum for reading is delivered so that each child becomes an enthusiastic reader with the necessary skills to tackle any text. Children are taught the appropriate strategies in reading, including phonic skills, word recognition and the use of picture and contextual cues to develop comprehension skills and increase independence in reading for enjoyment.

Reading materials 

On entry, the reading age of each child is assessed either through the Phonics scheme or by PM Benchmark depending on the Key Stage the child is in. Those who are reading below their chronological age are directed to read from the reading scheme materials – Read, Write, Inc. and PM Benchmarking reading scheme.  As the children progress, the books become increasingly challenging, yet achievable, given their personal effort and support at school and home. The children are moved up a level when their teacher believes them to be fluent enough to move on.

PM Benchmark reading assessments are repeated half termly during Year 3 and 4, and for lower ability readers in Years 5 and 6. Children who did not pass the Year 1 phonics screening, or have poor phonetic knowledge, are taught phonics through an intervention programme. We use the 1:1 Read Write Inc. phonics scheme or Fresh Start programme.

For children who are more competent readers, and for those in Years 5 and 6, we operate a classroom library system of books, where children are ‘free-readers’. Children reading at this level are by no means limited to the materials available in the classroom, and are encouraged to read material from the school library and local library as well as their own collections.

Reading at home 

Children are expected to read regularly at home and this is monitored rigorously by staff, with children being rewarded accordingly. All children are expected to read at least 5 times a week. Reading records are provided for every child at the start of each new academic year. These act as a record to track the number of times the children are reading per week, and also to record the number of books read. This record is also used to liaise between home and school regarding reading in order to fully support our children.

Individual Readers

 EYFS – each child should be read with at least once a week by the class teacher and another time by another adult.  

KS1 - each child should be heard read once a week by the class teacher during Guided Reading and then once by another adult if necessary.

 KS2 - each child should be heard read once a week by the class teacher during Guided Reading and then once by another adult if necessary.

 Identified vulnerable children who may have SEN needs, or who do not read at home, will need to be heard more and this judgment is to be made by the class teacher.

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. 

Benchmarking/Baseline Assessments  Non Negotiables

• Benchmarking assessments should be undertaken as soon as possible in the new term to identify a suitable PM level.
• It is an expectation that by the second Friday of a new term every child has an appropriate reading book to take home.
• In the first week of September, time will be taken for teachers to read with each child 1:1 to ensure they are reading a book at the correct level.

Use of Assessment

• Reading NFER assessments are completed termly in years 2 to 5 and results provide a standardised and reading age.
• Teacher assessment judgements are completed in line with the assessment calendar (once a term).

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 

Reading Books 

At St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, we have a range of reading schemes available which cater for the needs of all ages and abilities. In EYFS and Key Stage One children work through the Phonics levelled books under the direction of the class teacher who assesses their reading ability. Generally, in Key Stage 2 by the end of Year 3 children are free readers, unless there has been an identified reading need in which case they continue to follow on using levelled/book banded books.

Teaching of reading skills through comprehension and Guided Reading sessions

 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.

VIPERS stands for

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 Objectives

 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. 

Time Allocation

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. 

Timetabling & Supporting the Children 

EYFS read in their Phonics lesson  - word reading, then moving onto ditty sheets. 

KS2 Year 3 - 6 will have a daily Guided Reading slot in their timetable. It is the teacher's responsibility to draw up a 'carousel' type timetable that allows for 5 sessions across the week. Each child must have at least one Guided Reading session a week with the teacher then additional sessions can be carried out by Teaching Assistants, other adults or independently as necessary, but the planning and assessment of progress for Guided reading is the responsibility of the class teacher for all children. The carousel of activities should have an English based task and groups should be structured from the following: 

• Guided reading with teacher;
• Independent follow up work in reading/reading journals following guided reading session;
• Grammar
• Handwriting
• Independent research, possibly linked to other curriculum areas. 
• Phonics work/spelling with class Teaching Assistant or further review & response to reading/writing.
• Dictation 
• Reading different genres, including newspapers/poetry
• Book reviews; 
• Reading comprehension. 

Specific ground rules should be agreed and understood that enable adults leading guided sessions to do so without interruption. Quiet, calm and focused class-rooms are most conducive to quality Guided/Whole Class Reading. Work is completed in the English books with the Guided Reading session clearly marked, this includes comprehension tasks or follow up work to a guided reading session. To facilitate regular opportunities to hear less fluent children read some teachers may choose to hold a discreet 'lead in' session for 5-10 minutes at the outset of the session during which they hear children read and give developmental feedback and support to children on such skills as segmenting and blending and expression and intonation. This is purely an opportunity to hear children read and as such does not form part of the Guided/ Whole Class Reading session. 

Organisation and Planning Implementation

• All pupils will be grouped for guided reading on the basis of their reading ability. 
• Reading observations and assessments will be used to inform these groupings.
• Groups will contain up to a maximum of 6 children. 
• The learning needs for each group will be identified and learning objectives generated from these. 
• Texts will be selected to help deliver the learning objective which will also be at the appropriate book band for that particular group of children (at a level of approximately 90% accuracy).
• A guided reading lesson will follow a five part structure: book introduction, strategy check, independent reading, returning to the text and response to text. 
• A planning record will be used which will also identify relevant follow up activities to take place to reinforce and consolidate understanding. 
• A guided reading timetable will be displayed in each classroom identifying activities to be undertaken by groups not engaged in reading with an adult.

Structure of a Guided Reading Session

All Guided Reading sessions follow the structure set out below: 

Book Introduction This provides the context for the reading. The teacher will activate children's prior knowledge and/or discuss the main themes of the text, including some prediction of the contents.

Strategy Check Just prior to independent reading the teacher guides the children to focus on and apply key strategies while reading independently. 

Independent Reading Children will read independently while the teacher gives focused attention to support, monitor and assess individuals as they read. 

Returning to the Text The teacher asks questions, promotes discussion and interacts with the children to extend their thinking and develop their responses to the text. 

Follow Up (developed as a separate session) An element of the text is used to teach a specific point related to current word or sentence level work. Older children may be given the next section/chapter of the book to read with questions to think of as they read.

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.

Resources 

• Guided reading texts will take the form of Class Novels, which are stored in each class, one per term. These are supplemented with appropriate texts including fiction, non-fiction, poetry anthologies and play scripts linked to the class topics. 
• Guided reading resources from KS1 are only to be used in class and may not be taken home.
• Staff are responsible for collecting and returning sets of books correctly. 
• Reading scheme texts may also be used to support Guided reading sessions. 
• Computer hardware and software is available in all year groups, laptops and Interactive whiteboards are available in all classes. 

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.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

What are PM Benchmark Kits?

• These kits are a resource designed to help teachers assess and track students' reading progress. 
• They include a variety of levelled fiction and non-fiction texts, organized by series and colour band. 
• The kits can be used for various purposes, including shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, and supplementing existing reading programs. 

How does it work?

1. Assessment: Teachers use the PM Benchmark Kits to assess students' reading abilities. 

2. Running Records: They conduct running records, which involve observing a student's reading behaviour while they read aloud, noting miscues, self-corrections, and other reading strategies. 

3. Comprehension Checks: Teachers also assess students' comprehension by asking questions about the text. 

4. Leveling: Based on the assessment, students are placed at a specific reading level (e.g., Level 10, Level 20). 

5. Progress Tracking: The system allows teachers to track students' progress over time and make informed decisions about instruction. 

Key Features of PM Benchmarking:

• Fine Leveling:

  The PM collection offers a wide range of levelled books, allowing for precise assessment of reading abilities. 

• Consistency:

  The system ensures consistent levelling across the school, making it easier to track progress and compare results. 

• Complementary:

  PM Benchmarking can be used alongside other reading programs and interventions. 

• Comprehensive Assessment:

  It assesses not only reading fluency but also comprehension, vocabulary, and other important reading skills. 

• Training:

  Scholastic offers training to help teachers effectively use the PM Benchmark Kits and interpret the results. 

Benefits of using PM Benchmarking:

• Accurate Reading Level Identification:

  Helps teachers accurately determine a student's reading level. 

• Targeted Instruction:

  Enables teachers to provide appropriate and targeted instruction based on individual needs. 

• Progress Monitoring:

  Allows teachers to track student progress and identify areas where students may need additional support. 

• Parent Communication:

  Provides data that can be used to communicate with parents about their child's reading progress. 

• Meeting Curriculum Requirements:

  Helps schools meet National Curriculum and Ofsted requirements related to reading assessment.