Reading

How we prioritise reading @ TMS

Reading is a priority at Threemilestone School. We have a shared understanding that children who can read do well, and conversely, those who can’t read, won’t do well. Our aim is that children leave TMS as confident and independent readers, who have the skills to decode, as well as to comprehend both fiction and nonfiction texts with a lifelong love of reading.

• Reading always has priority in the Threemilestone School’s development plan, and the importance of reading is frequently shared with staff and governors through training and INSET and shared with parents/carers through website posts and family workshops. Reading, and Phonics and Early Reading, both have a  development plan of their own, separate from other aspects of English. 
• Children in EYFS and KS1 read Little Wandle scheme books which are entirely matched to the phonics programme we follow. There are three 20 minute Little Wandle Reading Practice sessions each week; the first has a focus on decoding, the second on prosody and the final session is on comprehension. An adult, including TAs from KS2, lead reading groups over the three days.
• Any child in the school who is reading below the purple book band is also assessed and placed within the Little Wandle Rapid catch up programme which is led by teachers and TAs.
• Class reading time (story time) happens everyday in a timetabled slot. These ‘class readers’ are tracked in the Reading@TMS document and all class readers have been agreed by the English team. These sessions are where teachers model fluency, expression and development of vocabulary, and promote the love of reading. 
• All children in KS2 participate in time tabled Reading comprehension sessions 3 times a week learning from a 100 word text each day. This is highlighted in the Reading@TMS document. 
• All children in KS2 have a daily timetabled session of independent reading (Reading Club). This is when children read a book matched to their ability, and staff hear children read to them either individually or in groups. 
• Family workshops (including Zoom meetings) are planned so that parents/carers have an understanding of how we teach phonics and early reading, a love of reading and also reading comprehension in KS2.
• There is a sense of urgency in ensuring that the bottom 20% of readers make accelerated progress. Ongoing Little Wandle assessments allow teachers to provide keep-up interventions in EYFS and KS1 and aid the identification of our target children within a phonics lesson. The Little Wandle rapid catch up programme is introduced for all children in KS2 who are reading below purple book band. These children are also a priority as daily readers to an adult.
• Little Wandle Assessments are carried out at the end of each half term to check children are making expected progress, and highlighting where keep up is needed.
• TMS has invested in new books in KS2 for Love of reading which are available for all children.
• In EYFS and KS1 Little Wandle reading books are matched entirely to the phonics programme. Children also choose a sharing book from the class book corner to take home each week.
• In all classrooms, there is a designated reading area with books based on the class’s STAR learning topic, and in KS2 levelled books for children to access easily. 
• A reading spine has been created to ensure children are exposed to a range of authors, text types and books they may not have seen before. This ensures the continuity of quality texts throughout the school.
• Literacy Shed Plus has been purchased to allow (KS2) teachers to access relevant, quality texts which are topic and year specific alongside providing age appropriate questions to go alongside the texts.
• Every child in KS2 is listened to and questioned at least once a fortnight through one to one reading with an adult.
• Reading books in the school are banded for those who have completed Little Wandle, and children are assessed on running records to progress through the bands.
• A reading shed has been purchased by the PTFA as an outside area on the KS2 playground where the children can enjoy reading.

Promoting a love of reading

Threemilestone School has a systematic approach to reading and lots of activities to promote engagement throughout the year to ensure that we promote the love of reading’ at every opportunity.

• • The leadership team and English team have timetabled in daily sessions so that children read, and are read to, daily.
  • Class reading time (story time) is a positive part of the day which children and staff enjoy. These books have been selected to expose the children to a wide range of high quality texts and to promote the love of reading.
  • Reading is visible in corridors and in classes, with popular series being promoted in corridors, as well as books which promote PSHE, diversity and  protected characteristics.

• Reading is regularly promoted on the school website

• Reading is prioritised in TMS through weekly and monthly celebrations. This happens through Reader of the Week in each year group from EYFS-Year 6. Reading assemblies take place weekly. In KS2 the Author of the Half Term is celebrated and shared, and in EYFS/KS1 each teacher shares their  favourite book on a half term theme
• Books of recommended reads for each year group are circulated to staff and parents/carers, and are also on the website. Staff have in-depth knowledge of authors and series for the year group they are teaching.
• The school celebrates reading in the annual World Book Day
• There is an annual ‘Bedtime Story’ event for EYFS and KS1 children. 
• Children can choose to take home a fiction or non-fiction book as well as a school reading book.
• All staff prioritise reading in the classroom and promote and celebrate children reading. They share their love of reading through displays, discussion and through the teachers favourite books on website.
• The reading comprehension sessions, which happen 3 times a week in KS2  using a mix of non-fiction texts, fiction, poetry and song lyrics to expose children to all types of text type. In these sessions, the same text is used throughout the week, which allows children to fully engage, enjoy and understand the texts. 
• The Poetry spine allows teachers to pick and choose from age appropriate poets that children can enjoy studying.
• Workshops are attended focusing on love of reading including research and the role that parents/carers can play in supporting lifelong love of reading.

How we ensure children are making progress

• Threemilestone School has many systems in place to ensure that all our children make good or better progression reading.
• Little Wandle phonics programme is followed rigorously from day 1 in EYFS, and throughout year 1. Little Wandle also continues into year 2 and beyond  if necessary.
• Little Wandle reading books match exactly to the phonics programme and therefore the children’s progression.
• Half termly assessments are carried out to ensure children are making expected progress, and to identify quickly children who are not so that keep up intervention is provided; this may be within a group or individually. Reading leads work with the class teacher to identify at risk children.
  SEND Little Wandle assessments are being used for all children with bespoke programmes to ensure even small steps are being recorded to ensure progression.
• Year 1 children complete the Phonics Screening Check.
• Progress in reading is tracked using NfER termly assessments in year 2 and KS2.
• Children who are on the record of need are screened termly on the 1st 300 high frequency words. This then informs interventions, precision teaching and learning plans.
  Beyond Little Wandle children who are in the bottom 20% are a focus in the termly Reading
• Progress meetings following NFERs, and  interventions and progress is being checked by the SENCO.
• In KS2, there is a running record assessment in place for when children move book bands and all staff are trained in this.
• In KS2, in lesson live marking forms assessment for teachers planning throughout the week and over the course of the term. Teachers target the lowest 20% of pupils in these sessions.
• Progression of skills in areas of comprehension,  as well as the question types and question stems, are seen in the Reading@TMS document.

How we match books to phonics ability

At Threemilestone School, we understand the importance of children reading books that are carefully matched to their reading ability.

• Little Wandle reading books match exactly to the phonics programme via half termly assessments. Three reading practice sessions take place each week (decoding, prosody and comprehension) before the children take the book home to read at approximately 95% fluency.
• Little Wandle assessments are completed half termly which identify the correct reading book level for each child, and also at the end of a phase in rapid catch up..
• When children have completed Little Wandle fluency, children continue through the book bands. 
• Children complete a running record assessment before moving onto a new band. 
• Staff and parents/carers understand that to make progress the book must not be too easy or too hard. If children are guessing through pictures, or using their time on decoding, their progress will be inhibited.

How we teach phonics

At Threemilestone School we understand the importance of teaching phonics right from the start of schooling

• Little Wandle is the phonics programme we teach at TMS and we begin on the children’s first day at school
• The children are introduced to four new sounds (grapheme/phoneme correspondences ~  GPCs) each week, with a review lesson on a Friday
• The structure of each lesson is Revisit and review; Teach and practise (how to pronounce the phoneme, hearing the new phoneme in a word, a mnemonic and formation phrase, blending and tricky words); and Practise and apply
• By the end of week 3 children who are not yet blending receive additional keep up support
• Half termly assessments are carried out to ensure children are making expected progress, and to identify quickly children who are not so that keep up intervention is provided; this may be within a group or individually
• The teaching of phonics is explained in the parent/carers meeting in the first 2 weeks into term. There are additional family workshops offered to parents/carers at the start of each new phase.
  Children have sound pouches to practise blending for reading and segmenting for spelling at home.

How we support children catching up in reading

Despite the structured approach to phonics and early reading, there will be children who fall behind for a number of different reasons. At Threemilestone School there are structures in place to support children in this position.

• Little Wandle half termly assessments are carried out to ensure children are making expected progress, and to identify quickly children who are not so that keep up intervention is provided; this may be within a group or individually
• Any child in the school who is reading below the purple book band is assessed and placed within the Little Wandle Rapid catch up programme.
• Any child who starts at TMS completes a Little Wandle placement assessment to ensure they are being taught at the correct level in their phonics development
• The progress of all children is discussed in the termly pupil progress meetings with the Headteacher and SENCo. Children who are falling behind from looking at data and formative assessments are discussed as a priority. 
• Keep up interventions for Little Wandle are provided for children in the bottom 20%; this may be within a group or individually, there may also be daily reading, tricky/common expectation words or high frequency sight vocabulary. 
• In EYFS children complete an assessment for the Language Link programme to identify additional speech delays.
• Where language and communication are additional barriers, additional specific programmes are put in place by our school SLCN specialist. A trained TA for speech and language works with children on their specific targets.
• Communication with parents/carers is strong and advice on how to support at home is made explicit.
• Interventions take place in all classes; this can look different depending on the needs of a class, and teachers may choose to alter whole class teaching or apply individual intervention.
• All teachers use day to day planning throughout the school which takes into account daily formative assessment that informs the planning of the next day’s reading.

How we train our staff to become reading experts

At Threemilestone School, reading is a priority. This also means that we believe that reading is an integral part of our professional development schedule.

• All staff have completed Little Wandle training. Any new members of staff who join our school complete the 6 hour online training provided by Little Wandle.
• Each year the whole school completes refresher training modules.
• There is bespoke training for adults working with children with complex and specific needs by the SENCO or reading leads.
• Staff are involved in observing other practitioners regularly to improve their own practice.
• A coaching model of monitoring has been rolled out across Little Wandle. 
• Reading (including phonics) is reviewed termly by the Languages Team and more training needs may be identified through monitoring. This is reported to Governors.
• The Language Team receives training and information from the Kernow English Hub both for Little Wandle and the Early Language Programme.
• Termly TLTs (Teaching and Learning Training sessions) are used to ensure staff understand the continued importance and progressive journey of reading at TMS ensuring they are up to date with all relevant changes.
• TA Training on reading follows this to make sure they are working alongside the teachers and understand why reading happens in this way. TAs receive a reading training session every half term.
• Reading leads monitor and offer support and guidance through lesson observations, monitoring planning and assessment.
• Early Reading and phonics lead is available every Thursday to support staff,  with a particular focus on RCU TAs. 
• Ongoing CPD training via the Little Wandle Platform  is regularly used by teaching staff with a weekly newsletter sent to all staff to inform staff of future training sessions.

The aim of this reading spine is to provide an extensive list of books which staff will read to their classes, use as extracts for comprehension, or use alongside writing units. The intention is that by the time they reach year 6 and beyond, they have been exposed to a wide, rich vocabulary and broader knowledge of the world. This will develop a love and curiosity to explore further reading, allowing them to access the more complex books expected of them in further education. Our idea behind the reading spine is that the selection of the books not only considers narratives and poems but also recognises that a good balance of topic-appropriate non-fiction books should also be read; therefore helping to further develop children’s background knowledge of the topics with study in school and evolve their interest and hunger for knowledge of the subjects.Our reading spine at TMS has been created to immerse children in classic texts, archaic language and stories with different narrative structures. The one clear aim of our literacy spine is that it is constructed to ensure that children hear the best stories read aloud to them by their teachers. We have drawn upon the works of Doug Lemov and his book, ‘Reading Reconsidered’. In his book, Doug Lemov points out that there are five types of texts that children should have access to in order to successfully navigate reading with confidence. These are complex beyond a lexical level and demand more from the reader than other types of books. The selection in each age group aims to ensure children are exposed to books from these ‘5 plagues of reading’: Archaic Language, Non-linear Time Sequences, Narratively complex, Symbolic/figurative and resistant texts.Reading Reconsidered by Doug Lemov – 5 Plagues of Reading. Doug Lemov outlines in his book the 5 types of text that all children should have access to in order to successfully navigate reading with confidence. The 5 Plagues of Reading are outline below:

• Archaic Language:  The vocabulary, usage, syntax and context for cultural reference of texts over 50 or 100 years old are vastly different and typically more complex than texts written today. Students need to be exposed to and develop proficiency with this  more dated and old fashioned use of language. 
• Non-Linear Time Sequences: Stories where time flows back and forth in a complex manner not just flows in one direction.
• Narratively Complex: Some books have more than one narrator telling the story or non-human narrators such as the horse who tells the story in Black Beauty.
• Figurative/Symbolic Text: Stories which can be steeped in figurative language and often exist on an allegorical or symbolic level, sometimes complex in plot and structure.
• Resistant Texts: This refers to texts which are difficult to understand, texts that deliberately resist comprehension. You have to assemble meaning around nuances, hints, uncertainties and clues.

The above 5 Plagues of Reading have been used to create the TMS Reading Spine – our aim being that over the course of each academic year, children will experience at least one text from each reading category in order to experience a broad and balanced range of texts. It is up to class teachers to decide where these texts are read throughout the year – if appropriate links can be found to STAR curriculum then teachers can utilise this.

KS2 read independently for 20 minutes. Children read texts from the appropriate book band as outlined by running record assessment. Children can also chose to read non-fiction books or pupils in UKS2 can read ebooks on their iPads. 

Class teachers will often use this time to listen to all children read, using a rota over the course of the week. Each child will be listened to by an adult in the class at least once every fortnight; however, ideally at least once a week. 

Class teachers will monitor the amount of time a child has been reading a book for – they will use their professional development to guide children when choosing appropriate books. 

This time can be used for reading interventions for children who need additional support in this area.

At the end of every day, children are read to by their class teacher. During this time, all children are listening, sat quietly – this time should not be interrupted: a magical time of the day.

Class teachers choose books from the TMS reading spine in whatever order they feel is appropriate. These books are designed to be aspirational and slightly more challenging than texts the children can address independently. 

World Book Day 2024!

Bedtime stories

Come read with me!