At St Alban’s CE Primary School, we are so passionate about reading that it is at the centre of our curriculum.  We understand that in order to access the wonderful curriculum offer we have for our pupils, they need to be able to read fluently.  We believe in the importance of developing children’s phonics skills as early readers, moving onto comprehension skills when children are ready. We also understand the importance to develop children’s love of books and reading. 

The Executive Headteacher and Head of School, along with other leaders, prioritise reading at St Alban’s.  The Head of School meets regularly with the EYFS and Phonics leads to discuss priorities, training and areas for development.  Early reading is a standing item during Senior Leadership Team meetings and all leaders are part of the action plan for improving reading.  The Phonics and Early Reading lead visits phonics lessons each week to ensure consistency across school and to coach colleagues to make their exemplary practice even better.  The Head of School ensure that the Phonics and Early Reading Lead has time each week to run coaching sessions, observe and monitor the implementation of the phonics scheme, and to analyse data and report to stakeholders.  All teachers and teaching assistants receive training for early reading, as every member of staff is a reading teacher at St Alban’s.

A love of reading is actively encouraged throughout the school. Passionate staff inspire children by sharing their enthusiasm for books. Teachers read core texts to students daily, using expressive storytelling to engage them and convey excitement about new stories. Book selections are guided by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) to ensure high-quality, age-appropriate texts. Reading corners and library areas have been designed to foster a love of books, and each year group follows a set list of recommended texts, encouraging children to take books home to enhance vocabulary, fluency, and enjoyment.  The school library is run mostly by pupil librarians who publish their own termly newsletter about the latest book deliveries and there is a recommendation box for pupils to suggest future purchases.

Teachers also showcase recommended books in classroom reading areas to spark interest. Throughout the school year children can earn Bronze, Silver and Gold reading certificates to celebrate how many times they have read at home.  They also have the opportunity to earn a Governor’s award and special keepsake leather bookmark at the end of the year through consistently reading at home.  House Leaders regularly discuss their favourite books with their peers in assemblies and make recommendations to other children.

Additionally, our custom reading diaries provide parents with phonics sounds, comprehension questions, and strategies to support their child’s reading development at home.

At St Alban’s CE Primary School, all staff are highly trained in delivering the Read, Write, Inc Phonic programme.

Information for parents, relating to the programme, can be found by accessing the following link: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

The programme has a strong focus on teaching children to know and remember more. Children are taught daily, in small groups, from Reception upwards. The small groups children are in ensure that all children are taught at their appropriate level, which results in good progress being made. The RWI programme supports the DSAT Teach Simply model:

• Review/ Revisit- Previously taught sounds and words are continuously reviewed and revisited at the beginning of every RWI Phonics lesson.
• Teach Simply – Children are taught a new sound following the same sequence daily.
• Practice Thoroughly- Children have the opportunity to practise reading the sound in words, including multi-syllabic words.
• Apply- Children apply reading their new sounds in alien words and in closely matched, phonically decodable books.
• Assess- Children are regularly assessed by the Reading Leader. Teachers assess throughout the lesson to check that children understand. ‘Spotlight children’ (children who are not making as much progress as the rest) are sat in the focus of the teacher, to ensure they don’t get left behind.

Although our intention is for children to ‘keep up’, not ‘catch up’, if the Phonics and Early Reading Lead identifies that any children are falling behind, plans are immediately put in place to support catch up. If needed, children are also assessed in KS2.

Please see our phonics policy for the flight path we expect pupils to take, and additional information about our progression.

Through regular and thorough monitoring, the Phonics and Early Reading Lead promptly identifies children who are struggling and collaborates with the class teacher to address their needs. While assessments take place every half term, they can be conducted earlier if deemed necessary. To support these students, the Phonics and Early Reading Lead develops a tailored support plan, which is then shared with teachers and teaching assistants. These plans outline five layers of provision to ensure appropriate interventions are in place.

1. The daily phonics lesson is taught robustly.
2. The child has 1:1 daily phonics tutoring every afternoon. This is delivered by a trained reading tutor.
3. Virtual classroom links (extra phonics lessons) are sent home to parents for extra practice.
4. Children are given extra time on an ipad to watch the virtual links in school.
5. Teachers have an extra 5 minute phonics lesson in the afternoon.

Phonics is taught from the very beginning of Foundation Stage 2. If children are ready, some of the sounds are taught from Spring term in Foundation Stage 1. We believe that a strong start in Reception has a big impact on children’s progress and confidence in reading. By the end of the Foundation Stage, we want children to be able to read all of the Set 1 and Set 2 sounds in words. Children are identified from an the beginning if they are falling behind.

From Foundation Stage 1, children take library books home to support language acquisition and encourage listening to stories being read aloud. As they begin Read, Write, Inc, they receive sound cards to practise their phonics. Once they confidently recognize sounds, they are provided with virtual links to games that help develop oral blending skills. Following this, children progress to sound blending books. When they enter the Ditty group, they take home a phonically decodable book that is perfectly matched to their reading level. This process continues until they have successfully completed the programme. Alongside their phonics book, children also bring home a library book to encourage parents to read with them and expand their vocabulary. Books are changed weekly, giving children time to practise phonics and build fluency. For those struggling with fluency, additional support is available through extra fluency links for home practice and targeted classroom interventions.

All staff at St Alban’s, from nursery to KS2, have received training in RWI phonics. To stay up to date with any changes, the Phonics and Early Reading Lead attends half-termly training sessions and shares key updates with the staff. All staff have access to the virtual classroom, which offers a wide range of training videos covering different aspects of phonics. The Phonics and Early Reading Lead guides staff to relevant videos and ensures they have time to watch them. Additionally, the the lead conducts monthly training sessions for reading staff. As part of ongoing development, St Alban’s also participates in a RWI Development Day, during which an RWI expert observes lessons and provides tailored training.

Involving families is a key aspect of our reading culture. International reading studies indicate that children who receive reading support at home are more likely to develop a love for reading and achieve higher academic success. Our goal is for children to choose to read at home independently. To foster this, we actively engage with families to extend the reading culture established in school. Strategies include:

• We offer advice and printable materials on our school website, along with input from individual class teachers on dojo and parent evenings.
• We hold regular workshops at school to support parents to listen to their child read, and to support them to understand the phonics scheme.
• Pupils designed our whole school racing track to motivate pupils to read regularly at home. Children are rewarded for reading regularly and are racing to achieve the ultimate recognition, the Governors’ Award!
• Our school target is for children to read at least three times a week.
• Parents and teachers communicate regularly in reading diaries. These reading diaries have been especially designed for our school and provide ways in which parents can support reading.
• All pupils regularly take home a RWI phonics book that is matched to their ability and a book for pleasure. When children move off the RWI programme, they read books from class libraries and the school library.

Research shows that reading for pleasure has a positive impact on children’s attainment in reading assessments. Children who read for pleasure have enhanced levels of text comprehension, an increased knowledge of grammar and show improvement in their writing. They also have more positive attitudes towards reading than peers. The advantages of reading for pleasure go beyond academic achievement:

‘Other benefits include an increased breadth of vocabulary, pleasure in reading in later life, a better understanding of other cultures, better general knowledge and even ‘a greater insight into human nature’.

Reading for Pleasure: A research overview, National Literacy Trust, 2006