Reading | Meadlands Primary School

“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

Key Stage 1 Reading Outcomes

Year	Meadlands		National
	Expected Standard	Greater Depth	Expected Standard	Greater Depth
2016	88%	47%	74%	24%
2017	86%	26%	76%	2%
2018	84%	40%	76%	26%

Key Stage 2 Reading Outcomes

Year	Meadlands		National
	Expected Standard	Greater Depth	Expected Standard	Greater Depth
2016	96%	28%	74%	15%
2017	80%	38%	71%	25%
2018	96%	64%	75%

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