INTENT
At Wellesbourne Primary School, our intent is to provide a nurturing and stimulating environment where every child develops a solid foundation in reading. We are committed to fostering a love for reading, ensuring that our students not only acquire essential literacy skills but also discover the joy of books and stories.
Through engaging and inclusive teaching methods, we aim to enhance students’ phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills. We curate a diverse collection of books, encouraging a passion for reading that extends beyond the classroom. We believe that reading is not only a fundamental skill but also a gateway to opportunities for learning and personal growth.
By fostering a positive reading culture, we empower our students to become confident, enthusiastic, and lifelong readers. Through collaborative efforts with parents, teachers, and the community, we strive to create a vibrant reading community at Wellesbourne Primary School, where every child finds inspiration, knowledge, and joy in the pages of a book.
IMPLEMENTATION
Early Years and KS1
Our approach to reading is based on the government validated Bug Club Phonics SSP (Systematic Synthetic Phonics) programme with decodable texts matching pupils’ phonic knowledge. Phonics is delivered through daily taught sessions, interactive games, clear provision in the environment, decoding skill, and picture clues. Alongside this we ensure that the children read the Common Exception Words for their year group.
Our main reading scheme is Bug Club Phonics, and we supplement this with Oxford Reading Tree, which offers a range of titles for the children to choose from, including Collins Big Cat, Project X, Songbirds, Alien Adventures, Fireflies (non-fiction titles), In Fact and Glow worm poetry books. We ensure that these books are matched to your child’s current phonics phase. We are investing in a full range of books tailored to our children’s interests and needs, diversifying the authors and stories that they are presented with.
KS2
Once children have mastered the skills of decoding and fluency, our teachers engage students in interactive reading activities, encouraging thoughtful analysis and discussion to enhance comprehension and critical thinking. Lessons are delivered three times per week and may link to a particular topic relating to the year group’s area of study. Guided reading sessions are taught as a whole class, with various stimulus to engage readers, such as: video, image, music, written text.
Enthusiasm and motivation are a priority for all pupils at Wellesbourne. All pupils are read aloud to daily, with the teacher modelling reading the text to excite and enhance the experience. Texts are carefully chosen to be entertaining, yet promote diversity, multiculturalism and expand each child’s knowledge of the world.
Accelerated Reader
The Accelerated Reading programme is used in KS2 to encourage independent study and reading for pleasure. Pupils independently choose from an extensive range of books that that they can access. Once completed, pupils can take a quiz which provides instant feedback, and is used to set achievable targets.
Teachers determine each child’s reading level using the STAR reader test, which is completed every half term.
Reading for Pleasure – A Wellesbourne Culture
It is crucial that reading is a pleasurable experience and associated with wonderful memories. To embed this across the school, the following activities take place:
- World Book Day – a full dress up day with a host of activities
- Peer to peer reading – older pupils host younger pupils and vice versa.
- A recent extensive investment in books to excite and engage all learners.
- A book club – pupils are invited to join a lunch time club, where a teacher can hear them read, or they can participate in book discussion.
- Creating attractive reading environments and displays in all classrooms.
- Visits to the school library, which can bring topics to life.
- Library bus visits to pre-school.
Parental Engagement
We actively involve parents and the wider community in our reading initiatives, organising events such as reading workshops and book fairs to foster a collaborative approach to literacy development. Through these efforts, we create a culture where reading is celebrated, valued, and integrated into every aspect of our school life.