St Breward Community Primary School

At St Breward School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. We teach early reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds, more about this can be found on our phonics and early reading page.

We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills, enabling learners to access all other subjects. When children have mastered the decoding of words, we then guide them to gaining a better understanding of what they have read by developing strong comprehension skills that enable them to not only read books with greater success and interest but also access the wider curriculum more confidently.

When children leave St Breward, they can read confidently and regularly enjoy reading and listening to books for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary and see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.

Key objectives:

- Develop Foundational Literacy Skills: ensure all students acquire the basic skills of phonics, vocabulary, and fluency necessary for reading.
- Promote Comprehension and Critical Thinking: teach strategies for understanding texts, analyzing content, and thinking critically about what they read.
- Encourage a Love for Reading: inspire students to become enthusiastic, lifelong readers through exposure to a wide range of genres and authors.
- Integrate Reading Across the Curriculum: reinforce the importance of reading in all subjects, enhancing overall academic achievement.
- Provide Individualized Support: utilise our small school environment to give tailored instruction and feedback, meeting each child's unique learning needs.

Implementation

In EYFS, through daily storytelling and English sessions, the children become immersed in stories that are at the heart of the learning and used to develop language and vocabulary. In Key Stage 1 the children gain the fundamental reading skills through our phonics scheme (Little Wandle). When they are ready to move on, we use Little Wandle Fluency which supports their understanding of the text. This reading programme uses specific Little Wandle books that are designed for children just moving on from phonics.

Whole Class Reading

In Key Stage 2 the children have Whole Class Reading lessons which focus on a range of different books from different cultures, sources and genres. These quality texts have been specifically selected to engage the children and promote discussion and learning. Lessons focus on key skills for reading comprehension.

Key skills:

- Retrieval

- Vocabulary

- Inference

- Authors style

- Compare and contrast

- Prediction

- Summarising

Key Stage 2 classes also have Independent Reading Time throughout the week. This is a time for the children to read books independently, with their friends or as a class. They are able to enjoy ‘book talk’, sharing their likes and dislikes, making recommendations and most importantly reading for pleasure.

We have a well stocked library full of books that have been picked with the children of St Breward in mind. We also stock all the books on our Reading Spine - great books recommended by literacy professionals and us! Each class also has its own reading area where children can feel inspired, read the books they have seen their teachers share and enjoy the comfort of a cosy reading space.

Children in Years 2 to 6 follow Accelerated Reader (AR) - a reading programme that aims to develop independent reading. The internet-based software assesses reading age, and suggests books that match pupils’ needs and interests. Pupils take computerised quizzes on the books and earn AR points as they progress. We share certificates in our family assembly for children who have taken quizzes and gained 85% or more correct.

Impact

Reading and oracy is core to everything we do at St Breward School. The progress can be observed across every subject since reading is fundamental to any curriculum. Children are assessed half termly using Star reader assessments and once a term they complete a comprehension test (PIRA). At the end of Year 6 children will take a reading SAT paper. This year we achieved a 100% pass rate in Year 6 for reading.

World Book Day 2024

This year we had a fantastic time dressing up in our favourite book characters: costumes ranged from Harry Potter to the Tiger who came to Tea. The children all visited our special World Book Day Book Shop where they could 'buy' books with their vouchers.

Children took part in a World Book Day competition to make a craft linked to their favourite book.

Key Stage 2 enjoyed a Book Tasting event, where they were able to try a range of new books - they even had some popcorn while they read!