At Templewood our vision is that every child should be a reader. We aim for all children to leave Templewood being able to read fluently and confidently for both purpose and enjoyment.

 

Nursery

Through Adult Directed learning and Learning Through Play (LTP), children at Templewood are given the opportunity to develop their reading skills and a love for reading by focusing on:

 

Early Reading Experiences

To be ready to start reading, children have daily opportunities to develop a variety of skills. These early reading skills include how to handle books, matching, rhyming, awareness of phonics and the skills associated with language development such as listening, attention, alliteration and sound discrimination.

 

Book Areas and Reading Environments

We have created inviting reading corners so that children have a cosy, quiet space to enjoy looking at books and listening to stories. We also offer children opportunities to experience print by providing them with a range of reading materials throughout the environment including outside.

 

Rhymes and Rhyme Times

Daily singing and rhymes sessions are taught. Rhyming helps children to break words down and to hear the sounds that make up words in preparation for reading and writing. Children are also encouraged to make up their own songs and rhymes. We use rhymes with actions and props to support multi-sensory learning and draw children's attention to alliteration and rhyming words.

 

Stories and story sacks

Children are read to daily. Adults think carefully about the voices, gestures and facial expressions that they use. Stories are carefully selected to make sure that the material is appropriate, will match the current theme or links to phonics. Adults support children to create stories, asking them to predict what's going to happen next and helping them to make up their own endings to familiar stories. They encourage children to think critically and become creative.

 

Lending Library

Carefully selected books are put into our Lending Library to encourage parents to borrow books to share at home with their child. We have created a reading spine which lists key books for each year group that we feel children should be reading.

Reading Spine

 

Reception, Year 1 and the start of Year 2

 

At Templewood we have chosen Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised as our programme to teach early reading and spelling. It is the school’s role to teach reading. However, parents/carers play a vital role, too. It is important that children have plenty of practice reading at home in order to become fluent, confident readers.

 

Phonics lessons in school

The children will be taught phonics daily using the programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This programme runs alongside the reading programme.

 

Reading sessions in school

The children will have three reading lessons a week. The reading lessons are taught in small groups with a trained reading teacher or teaching assistant. In the first lesson, the children will be introduced to a new book. They will practice their phonic knowledge to decode (sound out) and blend words (put the sounds together to form words). In the second lesson, the children will read the same book again, working on prosody, which is reading with expression. In the third lesson, they continue to read the same book and will answer comprehension questions.

 

We read the books three times at school because we want to develop their fluency. The more children see words, the more they begin to read them automatically without having to sound them out. At the end of the three lessons, the children will take this book home. This is the reading practice book.

 

 

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. Remember, they have been taught how to read this book in school and have already read it three times. Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

 

 

Alongside the reading practice book, the children will take home a sharing book. This is a book they have chosen from the school library for you to enjoy together. In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters and explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

 

 

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

If you would like more information on the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme visit the website at https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/

There is also a parent workshop powerpoint in our school improvement tab for those of you who either missed the information session or want to look at the information again. You can also speak to your child's class teacher if you have any further questions.

 

 

Comprehension skills are also developed in English lessons, through reading and discussing a range of stories, non-fiction and poetry. Pupils are encouraged to read widely to develop their knowledge of the wider world, themselves and to establish an appreciation and love of reading. Each class has a book area and story time happens daily. We use this time for teachers to model reading aloud, vocabulary development and to promote an excitement around books.

 

KS2

From the end of Year 2 and throughout KS2, we are making the transition to teaching reading fluency and comprehension skills through our whole-class Templewood Destination Reader programme.  These sessions are interactive and teachers facilitate speaking and listening opportunities, whilst modelling high quality reading as well specific comprehension skills. Vocabulary is explored and embedded, children support each other in pairs and concise written answers are recorded culminating in longer comprehension activities by the end of the week. The essential comprehension skills of prediction, inference, asking questions, evaluating, clarifying, making connections and summarising are explicitly taught. Where appropriate, children will also be supported with one-to-one reading sessions and phonics interventions.

 

High quality texts and passages are chosen, appropriate to the expectations of the year group or ability of children – both fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The aim is that children will have been exposed to a wealth of high quality texts by the end of Year 6. Progression is established through vocabulary, complexity, structure and subject matter.  Texts have been carefully tiered and we have aimed to ensure each year group has a mixture of texts types. Our Templewood Destination Reader programme develops the children’s ability and confidence to answer the type of written comprehension questions that they will face in the Y6 SATs.

Teachers also model a love of reading through daily class novels. Inviting reading areas aim to provide calm spaces for independent reading and listening to stories. Reading displays show the class reading journeys. Cross-curricular links and opportunities are taken throughout the wider curriculum to practise reading and build reading comprehension skills. We are fortunate to have a dedicated lending library from which children can take books home to share with their families.

 

 Reading at home

Supporting and encouraging your child to read at home throughout primary school is crucial. As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. When you help your child learn to read, you are opening the door to a world of books and learning. If your child sees you reading, especially for pleasure or information, he or she will understand that reading is a worthwhile activity. Try to read with your child as often as possible. It’s the best thing you can do to help him or her learn at school! Reading can be a family activity. Spending time with word games, stories, and books will help your child to develop a love of reading. Reading aloud can be a lot of fun, not just for parents but for all family members. Picture books and audiobooks can also be an excellent and a way to encourage diffident readers. Here are some ways to get the most out of reading to and with your child:

 

• Read with drama and excitement! Use different voices for different characters in the story. Use your child’s name instead of a character’s name. Make puppets and use them to act out a story.
• Re-read your child’s favourite stories as many times as your child wants to hear them, and choose books and authors that your child enjoys.
• Read stories that have repetitive parts and encourage your child to join in.
• Point to words as you read them. This will help your child make a connection between the words he or she hears you say and the words on the page.
• Read all kinds of material – stories, poems, information books, magazine and newspaper articles, and comics.

 

 Assessment of reading

Children’s progress in reading is informally assessed throughout the year in English lessons, reading lessons, phonics lessons and on a 1:1 basis. In addition to this, reading is formally assessed each term using TAFs (Teacher Assessment Frameworks) and comprehension tests. These enable teachers to make judgements about each child’s reading ability. Pupil progress meetings follow assessments and strategies and interventions are put in place to support those children who are not making the expected levels of progress. Alongside this, statutory tests are carried out with children in Year 1 completing the phonics screening check and children in Years 2 and 6 completing the SATs (Standard Assessment Tests).