Reading
Dane Royd Readers
Know more, learn more, dream more
Welcome to our reading page!
I am Mrs Louden and I am the Reading Leader in school. I absolutely love reading, and in my spare time you will often find me devouring a binge-worthy new book! I enjoy blethering about books, so please come and find me and we can have a chat about our latest reads!
Mrs Louden -
Reading Lead
Intent - Why is Reading important for our children?
Reading Offer:
At Dane Royd Junior and Infant School, we are passionate about providing our children with a rich reading diet. We intend to encourage all children to explore a wide range of texts across fiction, non-fiction and poetry, to further develop their knowledge of themselves and the world within which they live. We also aim for them to read a variety of genres and different authors, from ‘golden oldies’ to ‘new and bold’ books, to grow their reading repertoire. We strive to understand the individual reader identities of our pupils, and we use this knowledge to ensure that the books on our shelves cater for their reading preferences, to enable us to keep their reading lights switched on.
Language and Comprehension:
We have chosen to use a range of extracts in our reading lessons in order to immerse the children in a variety of texts. We strive to instil a passion for discovery, exploration and reflection through our reading curriculum, and we hope that the texts that we plan to use, evoke emotion and generate thought provoking, powerful discussions and that this in turn will improve the children’s comprehension skills. We aim for the children to acquire new language, from listening to, reading and discussing such a wide range of texts.
Reading for Pleasure:
Reading is at the heart of our school. We are committed to promoting reading for enjoyment, and we aim to do this through modelling ourselves as readers. We strive to develop our knowledge of children’s literature, so that we can tailor our curriculum accordingly and make personalised text recommendations. Through a wide range of high-quality texts, we aim for our children to have the opportunity to develop culturally, emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually. We ensure that there is dedicated time every day for the children to listen to a story being read aloud to them and to read purely for enjoyment. During this time, we intend for the children to participate in informal book talk.
End Goal:
We understand the importance of reading for learning and progress across the curriculum; therefore, we intend for our children to become confident, fluent readers, with good comprehension by the end of their primary school careers. Furthermore, we want all children at our school to leave with a thirst for books so that they develop the habit of reading widely and often and go on to become lifelong readers.
Implement - How will our children learn?
With these aims in mind, we teach phonics using the Read Write Inc Phonics Scheme in EYFS and KS1 to give all children the best possible start with learning to read. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. However, at Dane Royd we begin to introduce the programme in Nursery and will continue teaching RWI to children as an intervention beyond the age of 7 if they still require support in their reading. In Nursery, when appropriate, children will be introduced to letter sounds and picture cues. In Upper Foundation stage and Year 1 children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those words can be written down. Children will read from a range of storybooks and non-fiction books matched to their phonic knowledge as well as developing comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions. In Year 2, children will spend the first half term recapping complex and alternative sounds and work through longer books appropriate to their reading level. After October half term, Year 2 begin daily whole class reading lessons following the model taught to KS2 as explained below.
​
In KS2, discrete whole class reading lessons will be taught three times a week, in addition to embedding reading skills into our English lessons. During the reading lessons, the children are taught explicit comprehension skills using a range of stimulus linked to a theme. Additional guided reading and booster intervention groups will be planned into the weekly timetable accordingly.
​
At Dane Royd, our children are exposed to ambitious vocabulary displayed in classrooms and in the corridors, and in lower school, the use of songs, nursery rhymes and stories add to the language rich environment. We have also adopted the ‘Bedrock Vocabulary’ program in Key Stage 2, which assists in teaching children ‘tricky’ words explicitly within the context of aspirational fictional and non-fiction texts.
​
Dedicated time for reading for pleasure happens daily. During this time, an adult reads aloud a story for the children to enjoy. The children then have the opportunity to read a text of their choice and talk to each other about the books that they are reading.
​
At Dane Royd we celebrate reading, and this can be seen in our learning environment. Every classroom has a display celebrating the current class read and an inviting, sociable reading area. In addition to this, throughout the school year the importance of reading is heightened through the celebration of national days, such as World Book Day, author and poet visits, reading breakfasts and book fairs, which enrich and complement children’s learning.
​
We strongly believe that reading is the bedrock for learning, and that the ‘will’ to read influences skill. Due to this we strive to ensure that our pupils enjoying books and are intrinsically rewarded by reading.
​
For further information about how reading is taught please refer to our Reading policy.
Reading in Early Years
Early Years is the Key
Words children will have heard by the age of 5:
Never read to – 4,662 words
1-2 times per week – 63,570 words
3-5 times per week – 169,520 words
Daily – 296,660 words
Five books a day – 1,483,300 words
According to the Department for Education’s latest research, making sure that children become engaged with reading from the beginning is one of the most important ways to make a difference to their life chances.
Here at Dane Royd, we are passionate about developing fluent, skilled and attentive readers from the earliest stage. Alongside our delivery of daily systematic synthetic phonics, we treasure our story time. Award-winning children’s author Kate DiCamillo famously once said “the best way for children to treasure reading is to see adults in their lives reading for their own pleasure”. This is certainly true within our Early Years team where we have thoughtfully selected a variety of ‘old and gold’ plus ‘new and bold’ texts designed to engage and inspire our youngest children to love reading.
By the end of Foundation Stage, children should be able to read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read'.
How can you help at home?
Reading in Key Stage 1
By the end of Key Stage 1 children should be systematically and confidently applying their phonics knowledge and skills, alongside reading comprehension strategies to begin their life-long love of reading. Through modelling and scaffolding, children will begin to explore and practice strategies including making predictions about the text, questioning, clarifying and summarising.
Language provides the foundation of thinking and learning and is prioritised in KS1. High quality adult-child interactions are important and are a part of daily reading lessons.
Reading in Key Stage 2
By the end of Key Stage 2 children should be able to read easily, fluently and with good understanding. During their time with us, we work hard to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information so this becomes a life-long skill. Through an extensive exposure to high-quality literature, children will acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
Bedrock Vocabulary has a simple mission: to narrow the word gap that exists between different groups of students and improve outcomes across the curriculum for all students.
Bedrock Learning
Impact - What is achieved though our Reading curriculum?
Children leave Dane Royd Junior Infant school fluent readers with good levels of comprehension. This is reflected in outcomes achieved at every phase.
​
Our children achieve highly each year in the phonics screening check and provision in Key Stage 1 supports children in developing fluency.
Most children read extensively as they progress through Key Stage 2 with a high proportion attaining very high outcomes in the SATs tests. By the end of Key Stage 2 children have encountered a range of rich and varied diet of authors and genres and they talk enthusiastically about recommended reads. These skills support children across the curriculum, and provides robust building blocks to enable them to go on and achieve well in their KS3 journey.
​
