Reading

Reading has the highest profile in our school. Adults read aloud to children, ensuring that they become familiar with a range of stories and authors from our literary heritage, including a range of texts from a wide range of cultural and historical contexts. Reading areas are attractive, prominent and well-stocked.

There is a timetabled and a whole class structured reading session every day in school, including a class novel and guided reading, improving reading fluency, developing a rich vocabulary and widening their comprehension skills.   Children of all ages read 1:1 with an adult, with older children also using ‘Seesaw’ to record their own reading, letting them listen back to themselves to improve their fluency. All children take books home; for our younger children, books are linked to the phonics phase they are learning, while older children make their own selections which is monitored by the class teacher so that they are choosing appropriate books. Books are inclusive and accessible, supplemented by a half termly trip to our local library where we have made sure that all children are members and are able to borrow books from.

Teachers have a strong knowledge of children’s literature and take a personal interest in supporting and developing individual children’s love of books. Reading is assessed formatively by teachers and summatively at three points each year.

Standards are monitored through regular planning and book scrutiny by the English leaders and SLT, plus learning walks, observations and pupil voice.

For more information on the phonics and early reading scheme we use, please see below.

For more information on Key Stage 2 reading, please click on the link below:

KS2 reading | Moor End Community Primary School (secure-primarysite.net)

Phonics

At Moor End we follow the Red Rose scheme of phonics devised by the advisory team at Lancashire. We are investing £5000 in a new Phonic scheme and home reading to ensure we continue to close the gap. Each child in Reception, Yr1 and Yr2 has a daily, minimum 20-minute phonics lesson, following the teaching sequence of revisit/ review – teach – practise – apply. In Yr2, children also access a balance of both phonic and spelling punctuation and grammar (SPAG) lessons based on their individual needs and attainment. Reception and KS1 children are either taught as a whole class or sometimes put into small groups, based on regular assessments so that children’s learning needs are accurately matched to the correct provision. Small phonic sessions or interventions are delivered by teaching assistants and overseen by the class teacher, to provide complimentary teaching.

Sessions are lively, fast-paced, and fun. In a session, children are taught either phonemes/ digraphs/ trigraphs, high frequency and/or tricky words and these are consolidated through reading and writing. There is an emphasis on paired work and lots of opportunities to speak and listen, as well as to read and write the sounds.

At the end of Year 1 children have to take the national Phonics Test which tests children’s phonic knowledge. Here, they are required to read real and non-sense words, applying the skills they have learnt. Ideally children will have completed and consolidated Phase 5 during Year 1 and Phase 6 during Year 2, so that they can focus more on higher-level comprehension using increasingly challenging texts. Any child that does not complete the phonics programme will continue learning phonics throughout Year 3/4 during interventions.

Please click on the link below to find out about the phonics scheme we follow