Our vision at Eaton Primary School is for all children to develop a love of reading from which they can access a whole world of books in order to grow intellectually, emotionally and creatively. By giving children access to high-quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction books in our ever-expanding classroom libraries, alongside mastering the skills of fluency, prosody, word reading and reading comprehension, pupils at Eaton Primary School will be effective and successful learners across the curriculum. They will read to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world, read for pleasure and develop a reading habit that will last and enrich a lifetime. 

English Leaders: Vicky White (KS1) and Jenny Mathew (KS2)

Curriculum

KS1 

 “If a child memorises 10 words, the child can only read 10 words. But if a child learns 10 sounds, the child will be able to read 350 three sound words, 4,320 four sound words and 21,650 five sound words” – Dr Martin Kozloff (2002)

Read Write Inc Reading and Phonics.

Effective phonics teaching and learning is essential for high attainment in reading and writing. Confidence in using phonics is integral across the curriculum. Achievement in phonics benefits every area of a pupil’s development.

At Eaton Primary School we use Read Write Inc. (RWI) a clear and consistent inclusive teaching scheme that helps children learn synthetic phonics. The scheme includes both a reading and phonics focus. Our lessons happen daily as the continuity and pace of the programme is essential in increasing the speed of children’s reading development.

This programme is for:

• Pupils in EYFS to Year 2 who are learning to read.
• Pupils in Year 3 who need to catch up rapidly.
• Some pupils in Year 4,5 and 6 use Read Write Inc. fresh start (including those new to English)

We teach pupils to:

• Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly using their phonic knowledge and skills.
• Read ‘red words’ by sight (words that cannot be sounded out).
• Understand what they read.
• Read aloud with fluency and prosody

Read Write Inc. sessions take place every morning across Reception and Key Stage 1. Children are streamed across their key stage to ensure that teaching and learning is at the correct level for their current achievement. Groups are led by class teachers and RWI trained members of our support staff. Our groups are fluid and children are moved according to their assessment outcome and reading knowledge, children are assessed at least every 6 weeks. Children from reception are streamed within key stage 1 within the first half-term.

During RWI lessons we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning or have learnt. This provides the group teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties such as articulation and blending knowledge.

Children take home books that are matched to their reading knowledge. Children take home a book that matches what they have learnt in school for them to continue to experience success and gain confidence. They will also take home a colour-banded book that is closely matched with their phonics ability, these books will often contain an unfamiliar word as we feel it is important to expose children to a wide range of vocabulary at an early age. Children in key stage 1 and EYFS also take home a weekly library book of their choice to promote reading for pleasure.

Our aim is for children to complete the phonics programme as quickly as possible. The sooner they complete it the sooner they will be able to choose books to read according to their own interests. When children have completed the Read Write Inc. phonics programme they move on to reading comprehension and SPAG lessons.

Read Write Inc is based on the 5 P’s

PRAISE – Children learn quickly in a positive climate.

PACE - Good pace is essential to the lesson.

PURPOSE – Every part of the lesson has a specific purpose.

PASSION – RWI is a very prescriptive programme. Our staff put energy, enthusiasm and passion into every lesson to bring the teaching and learning to life.

PARTICIPATION – A strong feature of RWI lessons is partner work. Our children work together to support one another in the lessons.

KS2

Word Reading and Reading Comprehension

At Eaton Primary School, we use the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Reading to inform our curriculum overview for word reading and reading comprehension. KS2 Teachers use a reading skills map that ensures progression within and between each year group in the skills and strategies needed for successful reading comprehension and fluency.  These skills are then planned for in half-termly blocks of work. Alongside this, key texts are mapped out for each year group to ensure that a broad range of high quality fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts are used to support the development of reading skills, as well as fostering a love of reading.

Please see below for year group mapping documents:

N.B. key texts can be subject to some change in agreement with English leader. This will be indicated in termly year group newsletters.

Reading Lessons at KS2

Reading Skills and fluency are taught every day in KS2.  

Any pupil falling behind in any area of word reading and reading comprehension will receive additional intervention at KS2 in both small group and 1:1 sessions.

For pupils who continue to have specific learning difficulties in word reading and decoding at KS2, the RWI (see KS1 above) and Fresh Start (Years 4, 5, 6) programmes are used.

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for Pleasure is woven throughout both our reading curriculum and wider curriculum to provide a variety of activities and contexts in which children can develop themselves as independent readers, making their own choices about which books and authors they want to read and through this developing a reading habit to last a lifetime. Protected time for daily silent reading of own-choice reading books from the class libraries, daily listening to stories and poems read by their teachers and participation in events which celebrate books and authors e.g. World Book Day author workshops, visits from local book shops, all aim to foster a passion and love of reading.   

Helping your child at home

KS1 and KS2 

Home-school reading books

If your child is sent home with a reading book and reading record from school, please ensure your child is reading at home and returning their reading record back to school on a weekly basis (each class teacher will indicate the day they would like the reading record returned on).

Please use this link for ideas of how to support your child when reading at home with them:

Recommended booklists

Pupil Voice

Watch this space to see what children have been saying about reading at Eaton Primary School!

Latest Updates

Watch this space for any exciting reading updates!