Reading
Our priority is to foster a love of reading, enabling our learners to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. We recognise that fluency in reading enables our learners to have access to the full curriculum entitlement and is also a key factor in terms of developing their self-confidence and motivation. By exposing our students to a diverse array of texts and literary genres, we offer them the opportunity to grow culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually; ensuring that their educational journey is both enriching and fulfilling.
As our students progress through their educational journey, being a confident reader becomes a fundamental skill that not only facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and academic progress, but also unlocks a world of fresh ideas and opportunities for lifelong learning and success. At Boston Pioneers Academy, our unwavering commitment lies in ensuring that all our students, evolve into accomplished, self-assured and articulate readers who can effectively comprehend the material they encounter.
Reading Implementation
EYFS
Within Reception, reading is taught through both literacy-focused activities based on books and through specific teaching of the Read Write Inc. phonics programme. Children are read to ‘across the day’ in EYFS and their English work is underpinned by being exposed to a core spine of quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction that all children experience and draw upon.
The curriculum in the Foundation Stage also offers many opportunities for pupils to develop the essential pre-reading skills of speaking and listening. These are developed through listening to stories, shared reading, book talk, role-play and opportunities for talk through continuous provision. There are dedicated reading areas in both the indoor and outdoor provision that promote the love of reading. There are high quality texts linked to our themes for learning in all areas of the provision, along with key story props and costumes to allow children the opportunity to retell and act out stories or poems which have been shared.
As learners acquire the sounds, they need to access texts, our EYFS learners have the opportunity to participate in ‘guided reading’ through sharing and discussing simple phonetically matched texts. By adopting a consistent and rigorous approach, we will provide our children with the foundations to become enthused readers with a passion for storytelling, literature and vocabulary. To assist our learners in becoming avid story-tellers, we follow Vivian Gussin Paley’s Helicopter Stories once a week. This involves our learners telling their own stories, which adults scribe and they then have an opportunity to role play their narratives both with and to their peers.
Guided Reading
Each day, learners from Years 1 to 6 participate in a 30-minute, whole-class guided reading session. The focus of these sessions are to build learners’ comprehension skills.
A child comprehends a book when they are able to build a ‘mental model’ of it. This is built from their background knowledge which includes:
- Real-life experiences
- Cultural and historical knowledge
- Exposure to other texts which may have similar characters, settings and plots
- Core Vocabulary
Through our guided reading sessions, learners will be exposed to a range of activities that will develop their:
– Core Vocabulary
– Inference Skills
– Prediction Skills
– Explanatory Skills
– Retrieval Skills
– Sequencing / summarising skills
Our guided reading curriculum is set around a core series of high-quality, progressive texts. When a new text is introduced, predictions will be made and core vocabulary will be directly taught prior to our learners encountering the words when reading. We will also build their historical and cultural knowledge of where / when the text is set. All of this will help facilitate the building of a ‘mental model’ of the text. We call this, ‘filling the knowledge gap’.
During the guided reading session, texts will be read aloud to the learners in order to build their understanding as reading with expression is key to this. Learners will also have the opportunity to read independently, with partners, or in unison following the teacher’s modelling.
At key points, the teacher will pause to clarify meaning or facilitate further discussion of the text, for example to summarise what has been read so far or make predictions about what will happen next.
Following the reading and discussion facilitated by the teacher, learners will be provided with opportunities to apply their understanding and demonstrate the knowledge gained. This may be through, but is not limited to, answering comprehension questions.
Our intent is to make reading accessible to all, which may mean that texts are differentiated.
Reading for Pleasure
Engaging in reading for pleasure opens up new worlds for our students, enabling them to harness the power of their imagination to embark on adventures in new ideas, far-off places and the company of unfamiliar characters. Beyond the sheer joy it brings, reading for pleasure holds the key to enhancing our learners’ well-being and fostering empathy. It serves as a means for them to delve into the exploration of their own identity while gaining insights into the diverse perspectives and worldviews that exist beyond their own, nurturing a deeper understanding of both themselves and the world at large.
We support this by a variety of means including:
- Providing rich reading environments, featuring a wide range of high-quality books
- Having quality texts linked to their current themes for learning (topic books)
- Gifting book vouchers as prizes for competitions/events
- Celebrating World Book Day
- Having books available to read outdoors during lunchtimes
- Prominently displaying our reading spine books that we have read in class and having these on hand to re-read for pleasure
- Having an inviting ‘reading area’ in every classroom
- Promoting diversity and inclusion through reading high-quality books, that promote these values. These are on display and are accessible for all learners
- Modelling a love of books through whole-class story time
- Giving out a weekly ‘Share Book’ for our EYFS learners to share with their parents/carers
Home Reading
We have made substantial investments in a diverse collection of reading materials, aimed at motivating and empowering our students to explore a wide array of texts that not only challenge their reading abilities but also bolster their confidence in the realm of literacy. We expect our students to read at least 3 times a week and this should be documented in their reading record.
All learners who have completed our synthetic phonics programme will take home a reading book matched to their reading ability. They are assessed termly using the Star Reader system to identify their reading range (ZPD) from which they select books.
In addition to the above, children are encouraged to take home a reading for pleasure book, which they may require support to read, but which is one of interest to them.
Reading Spine
Each term, we introduce our ‘Reading Spine’ to our students, which comprises a carefully curated selection of the finest books and poems specifically chosen for the purpose of reading aloud with children.
“The Reading Spine is a core of books that create a living library inside a child’s mind: a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story, fostering a love of reading.” (Pie Corbett)
Books in this collection include:
- Picture books and wordless stories
- Books that deal with non-linear time sequences (include a flash back / fast forward)
- Traditional and contemporary ‘classics’ of children’s literature
- Texts with complex narratives that promote discussion and reflection
- Books with diverse and inclusive characters and/or authors
