Reading
Reading at Blenheim Primary School
At Blenheim Primary School, we are passionate about the teaching of reading and its vital role in unlocking every child’s potential. We have a clear, consistent, whole-school approach to reading, designed to ensure that all children leave our school confident, fluent readers. We believe that strong reading skills are the key to success in all subjects and to lifelong learning, opening doors to knowledge, creativity, and opportunity.
Our aim is not only to develop children’s ability to read accurately and fluently, but also to inspire a genuine love of books and texts. By fostering both reading for meaning and reading for pleasure, we equip our pupils with the skills and confidence they need to thrive academically and enjoy reading throughout their lives.
1-1 Reading and Home Reading
1-1 reading takes place every morning at Blenheim; this is a 25 minute session where all adults across the school listen to children reading individually during Early Morning Work. This allows us to listen to each child regularly, with identified pupils are reading daily. Pupils read books that correspond to the National Curriculum standards and adults gather evidence against age related expectations, as they hear the pupils read. Children in every class are also expected to read at home, using books from school, for at least 15 minutes per day.
Additional time is also allocated within a class’ weekly timetable to ensure that each child is reading regularly. This can also be through the use of reading volunteers and additional adults.
We currently use a range of different reading schemes to meet the interests and individual need of each and every child. These include, Collins Big Cat, Rigby Star, Kings court and Read Write Inc books for those in the early stages of reading.
Here is some guidance about reading at home.
/docs/Reading_at_Home_-_EYFS_and_KS1_Parental_Guidance_.pdf
The Teaching of Reading at Blenheim
At Blenheim Primary School children are exposed to a wide selection of high-quality texts. In Reception and year 1, Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc program. Please see the phonics tab for further information. Comprehension texts are specifically chosen to ensure progression throughout the academic year, as well as year on year throughout the school. Extensive research is undertaken to find the best books for each year group, which link to the wider curriculum as well as being age and content appropriate. Considerations are given to the balance of pure text and picture books, texts by different authors, with a balance of male and female authors and illustrators. All year groups study multi-cultural texts celebrating stories from other cultures and nationalities. Non-fiction books and poetry are very important and are included in our book progression map to ensure they are given the same profile as the fiction texts.
Year 2
As pupils move into year 2, they continue to access a daily phonics lesson, which after careful teacher assessment moves on to concentrate on application of phonics in a broader context. From year 2, children begin to access comprehension lessons as the main approach to teaching reading skills, which is the adopted approach as pupils move throughout key stage 2.
We teach reading skills 4 times per week using VIPERS: Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Sequence. During these lessons, vocabulary is explicitly taught and a key comprehension skill is modelled. Children are given the opportunity to practise their fluency by reading aloud and then apply their learning with a collaborative or independent activity.
Key Stage 2 - READING CURRICULUM
We launched a new KS2 reading curriculum in September 2022 and this continues to be very successful. It was deemed to be outstanding by our Ofsted inspectors at our last inspection.
The children in KS2 have 3 reading lessons every week, where they have the chance to develop their comprehension skills in discussion-rich lessons. Over the course of the year, each year group studies a wide, diverse range of fiction texts (including picture books, novels and graphic novels), poetry and non-fiction texts, which expose them to a huge range of authors, genres and writing styles. It is important that we help to build our children's contextual knowledge through reading, enabling them to draw on this in future texts to support their understanding. The carefully chosen texts will provide linked-reading to the books studied in writing lessons, topics studied in foundation lessons, and link to other themes such as Black History, Refugees, PSHE and topical issues such as climate change.
In each lesson, the children have chance to apply a range of comprehension skills to the chosen text, including vocabulary, inference, predict, evidence, retrieval and summarise. However, there will always be one specific skill that is modelled by the teacher at the start of the lesson, providing clear strategies for the children to use. The children then practise this skill with a partner, and then independently.
We also model and practice other skills that need to be happening as we actually read, which we call 'think alouds', This could include connecting with our own experiences and knowledge, visualising what is happening in the text, asking questions and wondering, noticing where we 'meaning breakdown' and getting the jist of a text, even if we don't understand every single part.
The main focus is on discussion; we want to allow pupils time to share their ideas and thoughts with their partner and the class, developing their inference skills and ability to articulate and justify their ideas. They will also have chance to independently apply their skills at the end of the lesson answering a range of questions in written form.
More than anything, we hope to foster a real enthusiasm and love for reading, encouraging our children to read for pleasure, helping them to discover texts, authors and genres they can enjoy in their own time, and building habits that will hopefully last a lifetime!
You can see our KS2 Reading Spines here, which show the wide range of high quality, diverse and challenging texts that the children are exposed to...
Reading for Pleasure
We believe it is important for every child to read and for every child to be read to. Children have access to high quality and diverse texts during their reading for pleasure sessions. Class texts are chosen and are read daily by the teacher during our timetabled ‘Reading for Pleasure’ session. During this time, fluency is modelled to pupils, discussions around the books takes place and children are given the opportunity to discuss books they have read and any recommendations they have.
Bedtime Bear
Children in EYFS and KS1 have the opportunity to take Bedtime Bear home. This is a suitcase with books, Bedtime Bear, a notebook, where children and parents can make a record and some information for parents about the importance of sharing books as a family. Not only has this initiative had a fantastic response but it has created a positive and encouraging reading environment, which is being transferred from the classroom into children’s homes.
Book Corners
Each classroom features a vibrant, well-stocked book corner, carefully curated to provide a wide selection of age-appropriate fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts. These inviting spaces encourage children to explore books independently throughout the school day. Our pupils have the opportunity to discover new authors, enjoy high-quality texts and explore recommendations from both their peers and the adults who work with them. By investing in these rich reading environments, we aim to inspire a love of reading and support every child in developing their skills and curiosity.
Reading Events
Reading is celebrated in many exciting ways throughout Blenheim. We hold themed challenges and assemblies across the year, with special celebrations for World Book Day. Children also have the chance to take part in a range of book events, where they can either purchase books at our book fairs or receive books to take home for free, helping to foster a love of reading both in school and at home.