Reading at Abbotsweld

Reception

Systematic synthetic phonics, using ‘Read Write Inc. (RWI)’, is delivered daily to children in reception.
Children are grouped for RWI at the end of Autumn 1 and these groups are assessed at least half termly.
Children are also provided with colour banded books. These are from RWI and are decodable.
Tutoring takes place for children experiencing significant difficulty.
In addition to phonics lessons, a whole class story is shared with reception children daily. Appropriate comprehension questions are asked about the books that are read to them.
Alongside RWI, reading is taught through reading games; Phonics Play (online), weekly 1:1 reading; vocabulary sessions; whole class reading - poems/rhymes, online books and books that help to give prior knowledge for other topics taught within the wider curriculum.

RWI sessions continue in year 1.
An additional whole class phonics session takes place each afternoon, recapping taught sounds.
The aim is for children is to complete the RWI programme by the end of year one. For these children, they move on to ‘RWI comprehension’, a 14-week programme that develops fluency and comprehension.
In year 2, on the completion of the 14 week RWI comprehension programme, children move on to Whole Class Reading comprehension lessons using VIPERS, where they study a text in depth throughout the week, focusing on a different reading skill each day: vocabulary, inference, predicting, explaining, retrieval or summarising.
Children are given books to take home to practise reading. These are from RWI and are decodable. Once children complete RWI, they are given a banded book from Big Cat Collins. Children can also take home an additional book of their choice for their parents/ carers to read to them to promote reading for pleasure.
Children continue their daily sustained silent reading session, gradually building up the time.

Children complete daily whole class reading sessions.
In addition to a whole class reading session, weekly comprehension sessions are delivered.
Sustained silent reading (STARS) is built upon with children reading for longer periods year upon year.
A whole class story is read to the children daily by the class teacher.
All classes have a weekly timetable slot to use the library, giving them the opportunity to explore different genres.
Catch Up sessions provided for any children displaying difficulty in decoding.