Reading
Reading
At Weston Point Primary School, reading is central to our curriculum. We recognise the cultural, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual development that pupils achieve through reading. Reading is the vehicle which enables pupils to both acquire knowledge and understanding as well as build upon what they already know. It is essential to the skills underpinning all aspects of communication, including spoken language and writing. Our programme of study allows pupils to develop an appreciation and love of reading across a wide range of genres as well as fiction and non-fiction. This breadth of exposure feeds children’s imaginations, allows them to step into other worlds and experiences, and opens up a treasure trove of wonder and joy for curious young minds.
Early Reading: Floppy’s Phonics
In early years and KS1, we follow the Floppy’s Phonics programme for early reading. Floppy’s Phonics is a systematic synthetic phonics teaching programme that equips children with the knowledge they need in order to read. Sounds and graphemes are taught using the Flashcards and Floppy’s Phonics Online activities. Children put their phonic knowledge into practice by reading poems, sentences and short stories in the Sounds Books and Cumulative Texts. The Helpful Words Poster provides a constant point of reference for words that are common but may have tricky parts, so that children become familiar with these words. Alternative spellings are introduced from the outset so that children become familiar and comfortable with the concept of multiple graphemes for the same sound. From Oxford Level 1+, children can read Floppy’s Phonics decodable readers when they have learned all the sounds and graphemes in an Oxford Level. These books are decodable and are matched to the children’s phonic knowledge. For word reading and comprehension in year 1, we supplement Floppy’s Phonics with our Sonar Curriculum planning that links to foundation subjects. Please refer to EYFS planning overviews for further information in relation to Reading planning.
Pathways to Read: Word Reading and Comprehension Y2-Y6
Beyond KS1, we follow the Pathways to Read programme to deliver the National Curriculum content for Reading. Each unit of work is expected to last a half term. There are 6 whole class reading sessions provided per unit. One whole class shared reading lesson is recommended to be taught per week with time after that lesson for a more bespoke grouped read with a smaller number of pupils. In the shared and grouped read, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills in the session and other sessions in the half term. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently. Please see the texts and objectives overview, along with the progression in reading skills document to support further information on coverage of word reading and comprehension objectives for KS2.
