Reading

“To learn to read is to light a fire” — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Curriculum Intent

At Meadlands, reading is more than a curriculum subject; it is a way of life. Reading for pleasure is at the heart of everything we do, for we believe, and the research backs us up, that a child who reads for pleasure will be more successful in all aspects of life. It comes as no surprise that reading permeates our whole curriculum. Our intent is that reading is highly valued by our pupils, parents and staff. This will be reflected in both our reading results and the wish that pupils will choose to pick up a book if given the choice.

Curriculum Implementation

Phonics

Phonics is a way of teaching pupils how to read and write by developing their phonemic awareness—the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate different sounds used in the English language. Pupils learn the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. Phonics is taught using the Read, Write Inc model (RWI). Pupils start in Nursery where they learn set 1 sounds helped by cued articulation. In Reception pupils learn a sound a day. They are also introduced to “tricky” words — words which have to be learnt rather than spelt out. As each new sound/word is taught, pupils continually revise and practise the previous sounds. As they become more confident, they begin to segment words into sounds in order to write whole words.

Lessons take place weekly in Nursery and daily in Reception and Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2). In Year 2 the pupils revise previously taught phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (ways of writing the sounds) and learn a range of new ones. In June, the pupils in Year 1 are tested on their phonics in a national phonics screening check. Our school results are listed below together with the national results. 

Guided Reading

Guided Reading happens every day for 30 minutes at Meadlands from Year 2 upwards. Guided Reading gives the class teacher an opportunity to not only hear the pupils read and discuss the book but also to develop their love of reading. 

We are very proud of our reading results as it reflects the commitment we have to the importance of reading and the belief and hope that this will translate into a love of reading for the pupils of Meadlands Primary School.

Year 1 Attainment Outcomes: Percentage of children passing the Phonic Test at Meadlands

 Key Stage 1 data

Reading Outcomes

Key Stage 2 data

Reading Outcomes

Information for Parents:

Reading has been invested in heavily at Meadlands and our class book corners are full of great books; some have been chosen by the pupils, some by the Junior Leadership Team and some by our staff. Our aim was to provide a mixture of contemporary and classic, allowing a “way in” to reading for every pupils. There is a simple colour code system that runs consistently through from Year 1 to Year 6, enabling pupils and teachers to feel confident about choosing the right book. We are always on hand to give tips and advice about book choices and have run successful workshops: Early Years phonics events through to whole school reading workshops. If you are stuck for a book, the following may be a good place to start:

Looking For a Good Book?

Foundation Stage:

Abigail-By Catherine Rayner

Alfie Gets in First-By Shirley Hughes

Avocado Baby-By John Burningham

Counting-By Alison Jay

Elmer-By David McKee

Katie's Picture Show-By James Mayhew

Key stage 1

A Place to Call Home – By Alexis Deacon

Amazing Grace – By Mary Hoffman

Bears Don’t Read – By Emma Chichester Clark

Burglar Bill – By Allan Ahlberg

Flat Stanley – By Jeff Brown

Katie Morag, Of Course!-By MairiHedderwick

Lion at School and other stories-By Philippa Pearce

Little Evie in the Wild Wood-By Jackie Morris

Major Glad, Major Dizzy-By Jan Oke

Orion and the Dark-By Emma Yarlett

The Colour of Home-By Hoffman, Mary

The Jolly Postman-By Allan Ahlberg

The Magic Finger-By Roald Dahl

Years 3 – 4

Danny the Champion of the World-By Roald Dahl

Gregory Cool-By Caroline Binch

The Wolf's Story-By Toby Forward

I Was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers-By Philip Pullman

Into the Forest-By Anthony Browne

Jemmy Button-By Jennifer Uman

Leon and the Place Between-By Angela McAllister

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-By John Steptoe

One Dog and his Boy-By Eva Ibbotson

Small Change for Stuart-By Lissa Evans

The Green Ship-By Quentin Blake

The Iron Man-By Ted Hughes

The Lion and the Unicorn-By Shirley Hughes

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane-By Kate DiCamillo

Years 5 – 6

Clockwork or All Wound Up-By Philip Pullman

Cosmic-By Frank Cottrell Boyce

Daughters of Time-By Mary Hoffman

Goggle-Eyes-By Anne Fine

Goodnight Mister Tom-By Michelle Magorian

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone-By J K Rowling

Journey to the River Sea-By Eva Ibbotson

New and Collected Poems for Pupils-By Carol Ann Duffy

Phoenix-By S F Said

Short! A Book of Very Short Stories-By Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Fire-Eaters-By David Almond

The following are links to information by year