As part of Book Week, we all really enjoyed taking part in the St Andrew's Book Exchange. Each class got some time to visit Miss Cooper and Mrs McLaren at the book exchange to pick a new book to enjoy! The children loved thinking about which book they would like to take home and it was fantastic to hear them talking about different books with their friends. Some children gave reccomendations and others helped their freinds pick out a new book based on what they enjoyed reading about. A huge thank you for your wonderful contributions to the St Andrew's Book Exchange and a big thank you to school council for your help with running this fantastic event!

Where is the strangest place you have ever read a book? 

Here are some of the fantastic photographs from our Extreme Reading competition. The children were given the challenge of reading one of their favourite books in a strange or unusual place. As you can see from the photos above, they did such an amazing job! School council had the very difficult job of deciding on the winners from our incredible selection of photos. All of our Extreme Reading photos are on display in KS2 to share our love of reading with others and everyone who entered received a certificate and a new book of their choice from Mr Snelling. Keep your eyes peeled for our next reading based challenge coming very soon!

Reading

By the end of their time at primary school, all pupils should be able to read fluently, and with confidence. The teaching of reading is split into two sections – decoding and comprehension. Decoding covers the technical aspects of reading: using phonic sound to blend an unfamiliar word, using root words and prefixes to support this and drawing on previously known words. Comprehension is focussed on class sessions and covers discussions about the book, showing an understanding of what has been read. Both skills are essential for developing lifelong successful readers. In all areas of school, high quality texts are chosen and each class has daily story time where stories are enjoyed and discussed to promote a love of reading. Reading for pleasure and enjoyment is something that we promote and cherish at St Andrew's. We want our children to vist different lands, meet amazing characters and learn new things through the love of reading. Our St Andrew's reading spine has been built to not only to ensure our children are immersed within different fiction, non-fiction and poetry by a range of different authors, but more importantly to engage them in all the wonderful world of reading has to offer. Please see the document below that outlines some of the books our children enjoy throughout St Andrew's.

Foundation Stage

In all EYFS classes, the pupils have daily story time, where stories are enjoyed and discussed.

On entry to Foundation Stage 2 the pupils are assessed in RWI phonic sounds. These assessments are used to inform the teacher’s planning.

Autumn Term – The pupils stay in class groups. All Set 1 Sounds are taught, with green words.

Spring/Summer Term – The pupils will be re-assessed and will form 3-4 groups across the phase. The Reading Teacher will teach Speed Sound lessons as well as following the correct reading lesson and format for their group, (i.e ditty, red group) this will be found in the Teacher Handbooks.

Summer Term – several pupils in Nursery may be ready to learn Set 1 Sounds. The teacher will decide on the pupils and incorporates these in their phonics lessons.

Year 1

On entry to Year 1, the pupils complete a RWI assessment. The children have 4 weekly phonics sessions followed by 15 minutes of reading a RWI book aimed at their level. Regular assessments are carried out throughout the year to inform the groupings, to ensure differentiation and challenge.

Year 1 to Year 6

Alongside this, children from Year 1 - Year 6 work on the comprehension of texts and building up fluency in their reading lessons through the use of the Complete Comprehension scheme of work. This is achieved by using the RWI approach to reading of scaffolding ‘key words’ as a preparation for reading. Children will be introduced to the key vocabulary that they will come across in the text they are working of and will be taught the meaning of these tricky words in context to support their understanding in reading lessons.  Children may also pre read texts throughout the week in preparation for their reading lessons where they will develop their understanding and comprehension of a given text.

Each lesson, children will focus on developing one reading skill. The skills taught will be varied throughout the year to ensure they meet each reading skill time and time again throughout their time at St Andrew's. This will enable the children to use their prior learning to build upon the skills they are developing. They will be taught what the reading skill they are working on in each lesson is and what using this skill may look like in their lesson as a result of high quality teacher modelling. The teacher will model using the skill the children are developing that lesson to allow them to hear the thoughts and ideas of the teacher. In KS1, this may be through grouped discussion and dialogue before the children are encouraged to write some answers down.

During reading lessons, children are taught  how a good reader thinks through high quality teacher modelling. Teachers share their inner thoughts with children when they are modelling how to answer questions so the children can hear their thoughts first hand. Teachers will clearly model the processes they are going through when they are trying to understand the text and answer questions related to the skill they are teaching. Lessons are based around a variety of  poetry, fiction and non-fiction texts and lessons are planned to support the skills taught and improve understanding of the text. Children will then answer questions linked to the skill that they have been taught linked to the text they are currently working on. This will support their undertsanding of the skill and gives them the chance to showcase their understanding. Children may then move on to 'mix it up' style questions, which aim to revisit a range of previous reading skills they have been taught in relation to the text they are currently reading.

Please take a look at the documents below that show the five reading skills we teach in KS1 and the eight reading skills we teach in KS2 using Complete Comprehension. In KS2 children will build upon the five core reading skills they have developed in KS1 and will also be introduced to three new reading skills (word choice, relationship and comparison). 

Reading at Home

At St Andrew’s C of E Primary, we encourage children to read at home 5 times a week. We call this Fab

Five. Children will be awardred 5 dojo points on a Friday if they achieve Fab 5.

In Foundation Stage the children will bring home words, based on the sounds they are reading and will move onto books as the year progresses.

Children in Year 1 are given books based on the sounds they know.

Once children have passed the Phonics Screener, children are allocated an Accelerated Reader book, which a based on an assessment their teacher has carried out. Teachers carry out regular AR Reading assessments every term to inform their assessments.

You Can Read to Me or Free Reader Books

There are a variety of books for the pupils to ‘choose’ to read. Alongside a phonics based book or AR Reader book. every child also has a 'you can read to me' or 'free reader' book. These may not be aimed at their reading level but offer a wider scope for enjoyment and sharing books with others. They have picked this book to read for pleasure.