Hanbury’s Farm Primary and
Oakhill Primary School
Federation
Reading Policy 2015
“I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.
I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.”
Julia Donaldson
Our aims are:
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that children will be taught the essential skills of reading
will enjoy a wide variety of texts including fiction, non-fiction and poetry
will become independent readers and transfer these skills across the
curriculum
will be prepared for their next stage of education
and will become critical, life-long readers and learners.
At Hanbury’s Farm Primary school, children will be taught the skills and strategies to read
fluently and for meaning through a range of activities. These may include:
Early Reading and phonics
Phonics is given high priority in our school, with daily sessions in all classes. Children in our
nursery and reception classes take part in whole class and small group ability sessions to
ensure that children make a positive start.
Children in early years are given picture books or reading books for parents to share with
their children. Once children are in reception, children are given home reading books – these
books are phonically decodable books ( Collins Big Cat). We also believe that the teaching of
phonics and reading should be in a rich language and text based curriculum, where children
are taught a range of other strategies to help them become independent readers.
Y1 children are tested to check that their phonics decoding is at an age appropriate
standard. These skills are addressed in daily phonic sessions, using a combination of
resources e.g. phonics bug, RML and letters and sounds. Children are routinely assessed for
their sound recognition, blending and reading – and extra intervention is organised where
appropriate.
Shared Reading
In shared reading the teacher’s role is to make overt what good readers do. During shared
reading the children can access a text which may be challenging to them individually. Reading
skills and strategies should be clearly modelled, and discussion should help children to deeper
understanding of the text. Shared reading should have a specific focus and all abilities
should be included in discussions by differentiated questions. Shared reading may take place
in any lessons throughout the day.
Guided Reading
For guided reading the class is divided into groups of no more than 7 children of similar
reading ability. In these sessions, reading strategies will be looked at daily to ensure children
know how to access and evaluate texts. Guided reading is recorded on weekly plans and
includes reading with an adult, independent reading, activities with specific reading focuses
and access to online texts through the use of www.bugclub.co.uk
In year 1, guided reading sessions focus on phonic decoding in the Autumn and Spring term,
other reading assessments will be focused on in the summer term. Year 1 use a range of
project X and bug club schemes for their guided reading sessions. Other year groups will
use a range of resources which may include: Phonics Bug, Rigby star navigator, Literacy
World, Bugclub and Project X.
Modelled Reading
This is where a group of children work with a teacher, adults precisely model reading
sentences according to punctuation and expression and the children copy and repeat these
sentences as modelled. This strategy is only used for groups of children who will benefit
from this intervention.
Better readers program
This is a short term intervention program ( 10 weeks, three times a week) aimed at improving
key reading skills by focusing on: independent use of reading strategies and skills, increased
ability to discuss texts and understand them beyond literal level, increased confidence,
leading to increased enjoyments and motivation to read.
Individual Readers:
Provision for individual reader in school occurs for all children in Reception, year 1 and
identified children throughout the school. In key stage 2, all children read to a teacher or
teaching assistant at least twice a week. At other times, members of the ‘reading taskforce’
will listen to identified children, who are not reading at home and or have been identified
from termly standardised reading test.
Home readers
As a school, reading at home and engagement with parents is given high priority. We run ‘Get
caught reading’ sessions in school and reading workshops to share reading skills and
resources with the parents to motivate and support our parents/ carers.
Early years
Key Stage 1
and 2
Nursery are sent home library books for parents to share with the
children. As the year progresses, children in reception move onto CVC
books or scheme books level appropriate. These books are phonically
decodable and match the phonics phase the children are working on.
All children will be given a reading book at an appropriate level to take
home, together with a reading record. Each time a child reads, a comment
or signature is recorded by a parent/ carer, this is then monitored daily in
school to reward the child with stamps and work towards achieving Bronze,
Silver or Gold Award. Where children do not read at home, teachers will
enable them to read to an adult during school time.
Progression of banded books in school
The reading scheme used for home readers is the Collins Big Cat.
Book Bands and Levels
Book Band
0 Lilac
1 Pink
2 Red
3 Yellow
4 Blue
5 Green
6 Orange
7 Turquoise
Average Year group
FS
FS
FS/Y1
FS/Y1
Y1
Y1
Y1/Y2
Y2
8 Purple
9 Gold
10 White
11 Lime
12 Copper
13 Topaz
14 Ruby
15 Emerald
16 Sapphire
17 Diamond
18 Pearl
Y2
Y2
Y2/Y3
Y3
Y3
Y4
Y4/5
Y5
Y6
Y6
Y6
Reading environments in school
Classrooms all have book corners with a range of books and real life texts. Favourite books,
book reviews, collections of books on a similar theme or reading displays will be in classrooms.
At lunchtimes, there are in school reading role models who take part in a range of reading
activities to inspire and help children.
Daily Story time
All classes have a planned session in their timetable, where the teacher will read to the
whole class.
Assessment
Children’s reading is assessed using the reading progression grids and core expectation
reading grids. Children from Year 2 upwards have personal reading journals, where a range of
evidence is collected and can be used to form an accurate assessment of their individual
reading ability.
PIRA reading tests to monitor and assess reading progress.
Leadership and Management
The literacy coordinator is responsible for reviewing and improving the standards of
teaching and learning of reading though out the school by: analysing data, pupil progress
through lesson observations, book trawls, pupil interviews, auditing and supporting
professional development, purchasing and organising resources.
At Oakhill Primary school, children will be taught the skills and strategies to read fluently
and for meaning through a range of activities. These may include:
Early Reading and phonics
Phonics is given high priority in our school, with daily sessions in all classes. Children in our
nursery and reception classes take part in whole class and small group ability sessions to
ensure that children make a positive start.
Children in early years are given picture books or reading books for parents to share with
their children. Once children are in reception, children are given home reading books – these
books are phonically decodable books ( Collins Big Cat). We also believe that the teaching of
phonics and reading should be in a rich language and text based curriculum, where children
are taught a range of other strategies to help them become independent readers.
Y1 children are tested to check that their phonics decoding is at an age appropriate
standard. These skills are addressed in daily phonic sessions, using a combination of
resources e.g. phonics bug, RML and letters and sounds. Children are routinely assessed for
their sound recognition, blending and reading – and extra intervention is organised where
appropriate.
Shared Reading
In shared reading the teacher’s role is to make overt what good readers do. During shared
reading the children can access a text which may be challenging to them individually. Reading
skills and strategies should be clearly modelled, and discussion should help children to deeper
understanding of the text. Shared reading should have a specific focus and all abilities
should be included in discussions by differentiated questions. Shared reading may take place
in any lessons throughout the day.
Guided Reading
For guided reading the class is divided into groups of no more than 7 children of similar
reading ability. In these sessions, reading strategies will be looked at daily to ensure children
know how to access and evaluate texts. Guided reading is recorded on weekly plans and
includes reading with an adult, independent reading, activities with specific reading focuses
and access to online texts through the use of www.bugclub.co.uk
In year 1, guided reading sessions focus on phonic decoding in the Autumn and Spring term,
other reading assessments will be focused on in the summer term. Year 1 use a range of
project X and bug club schemes for their guided reading sessions. Other year groups will
use a range of resources which may include: Phonics Bug and Bugclub.
Individual Readers:
Provision for individual reader in school occurs for all children in Reception, year 1 and
identified children throughout the school. In key stage 2, all children read to a teacher or
teaching assistant at least twice a week. At other times, members of the ‘reading taskforce’
will listen to a range of children. At other times, members of the ‘reading taskforce’ will
listen to identified children, who are not reading at home and or have been identified from
termly standardised reading test.
Home readers
As a school, reading at home and engagement with parents is given high priority. We run ‘Get
caught reading’ sessions in school and reading workshops to share reading skills and
resources with the parents to motivate and support our parents/ carers.
Early years
Key Stage 1
and 2
Nursery are sent home library books for parents to share with the
children. As the year progresses, children in reception move onto CVC
books or scheme books level appropriate. These books are phonically
decodable and match the phonics phase the children are working on.
All children will be given a reading book at an appropriate level to take
home, together with a reading record. Each time a child reads, a comment
or signature is recorded by a parent/ carer, this is then monitored daily in
school to reward the child with stamps and work towards achieving Bronze,
Silver or Gold Award. Where children do not read at home, teachers will
enable them to read to an adult during school time.
Progression of banded books in school
The reading scheme used for home readers is the Collins Big Cat.
Book Bands and Levels
Book Band
0 Lilac
1 Pink
2 Red
3 Yellow
4 Blue
5 Green
6 Orange
7 Turquoise
8 Purple
9 Gold
10 White
11 Lime
12 Copper
13 Topaz
14 Ruby
15 Emerald
16 Sapphire
Average Year group
FS
FS
FS/Y1
FS/Y1
Y1
Y1
Y1/Y2
Y2
Y2
Y2
Y2/Y3
Y3
Y3
Y4
Y4/5
Y5
Y6
17 Diamond
18 Pearl
Y6
Y6
Reading environments in school
Classrooms all have book corners with a range of books and real life texts. Favourite books,
book reviews, collections of books on a similar theme or reading displays will be in classrooms.
At lunchtimes, there are in school reading role models who take part in a range of reading
activities to inspire and help children. These are Year 5 and 6 children, who read to younger
children within the school.
All classrooms have a real reading area (RR) in which a range of texts are offered to engage
both girls and boys. These might include non-fiction books, comics, newspapers and story
books.
Daily Story time
All classes have a planned session in their timetable, where the teacher will read to the
whole class.
Assessment
Children’s reading is assessed using the reading progression grids and evidence collected in
their reading journals . Children from Year 2 upwards have personal reading journals, where
a range of evidence is collected and can be used to form an accurate assessment of their
individual reading ability.
PIRA reading tests are used termly to monitor and assess reading progress.
Leadership and Management
The literacy coordinator is responsible for reviewing and improving the standards of
teaching and learning of reading though out the school by: analysing data, pupil progress
through lesson observations, book trawls, pupil interviews, auditing and supporting
professional development, purchasing and organising resources.
Ratified by Governing Body on: 29.4.15
Signed: ______________