Reading

At Bywell Junior School we believe that reading is an essential life skill which underpins all areas of the curriculum and our core values. We are committed to providing the children with a literacy rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities which will enable them to gain a lifelong enjoyment of reading, books as well as developing their own personal values.

We encourage our pupils to progress through all the levels of our home/school reading scheme (this includes a wide range of text types – fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, classics etc.). Once the children have progressed through this scheme, we believe the children have the independence to choose appropriate texts that interest them and challenge them as readers, developing their sense of justice and compassion – as well as reading texts that have been recommended to them either by their peers or by an adult.

Evidence shows that children’s ability to read, process and understand texts underpins their ability to access the whole of the curriculum. This confidence and competence when applying these skills will engage our pupils love and thirst for learning and will help them grow as learners who show endurance, compassion, are creative, independent and resilient.

At Bywell we aim to listen to all our children read every week, we encourage them to speak clearly and with fluency. We want them to apply their knowledge of phonics in order to decode unfamiliar words with increasing accuracy and speed. Our pupils are encouraged to read and speak with expression, clarity and confidence – through their reading, when in class, around school in assemblies (when allowed) and to visitors. Through reading our pupils develop a good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and are constantly invited to ask for the meanings of words they are unsure of.

At Bywell our children are introduced to a range of fiction and non-fiction genres through their English lessons, Reading for Pleasure/Listening for Pleasure lessons and reading comprehension activities. This range of high-quality texts and the work that takes place allows for meaningful, thoughtful class discussions and allows the children to develop a sense of empathy and compassion. It also allows the children the opportunity to use the language structures and vocabulary in their own work.

The children at Bywell have many opportunities to read and discuss texts. Each classroom has a well-stocked library which is periodically restocked with diverse authors, texts that question viewpoints and popular new releases – this is through discussions with members of each class. Children also regularly visit the school library where there is a vast variety of books. Time is dedicated to each part of the week for the children to ’Drop it and read’ and it is our aim to listen to each child every week. Throughout the year a love of reading is promoted by author visits, librarian visits, World Book Day etc.

• Children are provided with books that match and support their phonics skill and ability.
• Ensure children who are independent readers choose a variety of high-quality texts that are age appropriate and challenging.
• Children will be encouraged to read with greater fluency and be able to use their phonic strategies to decode unknown words as well as ask for the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.
• Show endurance by reading for more prolonged periods of time and for a range of purposes.
• Use ‘Pupil Voice’ as a way of capturing the children’s views about reading and how it can be developed.
• Children will be invited to read to an adult on a weekly basis, this is a time when expression can be developed, the text can be discussed and meanings of words can be shared. There will also be a time to read independently every day.
• Three times a week, all children will systematically be taught reading comprehension skills.
• Children will have the opportunity to Listen for Pleasure as their class teacher reads a book three times a week.
• At different times over the academic year there will be various activities planned to promote reading. (World Book Day, Author visits, assemblies, competitions).

• Fixing Fluency was undertaken by Year 4 and 5
• Year 6 was organized so that comprehensions could be more focused on the run up to the SATs
• A book fair was held in the week after World Book Day
• World Book Day was celebrated, with competitions led by the Reading Ambassadors and vouchers for the book fair given out as prizes.
• Every child in school was given a poetry book to celebrate World Book Day
• Children who were winners of the fancy dress costume were taken by a member of SLT to an independent book shop, where they chose a book for themselves and one for the library.
• New reading books were ordered for Blossom
• The new year 3 parents were met and the importance of reading at home was discussed.
• Pupil voice was gathered, all children said they enjoyed reading.

End of Key Stage 2 SATS assessment outcomes:

EXS and above              –  School 88.7%       LA 73.9%       National 75.1%

GDS                                  – School 38.1%       LA 29.1%       National 33.4%

Average scaled score    – School 108.6        LA 105            National 105.6

• Order new books for the library, replacing well worn books and replenishing some of the non-fiction sections.
• Ensure all staff are confident in the use of PM benchmarking
• Ensure staff are teaching reading comprehension each week
• Feedback to all staff on Pupil voice
• Ensure all staff are listening to children read each week
• Recruit new Reading Ambassadors

• New books were ordered for the library
• New Reading Ambassadors were chosen from Year 6
• A book fair was held and the Reading Ambassadors were invited to help out.
• Competitions were held during the book fair that the Reading Ambassadors supported.
• Pupil Voice was undertaken and feedback was given during a staff meeting.
• Teachers were asked to make their reading records with a T when they had listened to a child read.
• Teachers were asked to sign reading records when they had listened to each child.
• The display in the Staffroom was renewed and updated with more relevant information.
• I attended a refresher of ‘Fixing Fluency’
• Two new members of staff attended a full day training of ‘Fixing Fluency’
• The Reading Ambassadors have asked each class for a wish list of books.

• New reading books were ordered to add to the reading scheme (Gold, white and lime) meaning that the children have a wider range of books to read at that level.
• World book Day was celebrated in March, allowing all children to celebrate their love of reading
• A costume competition was held and a book voucher was awarded to the winning children to be spent at the book fair.
• A decorate a potato competition was introduced. A winner was chosen from each class and these children were then taken to Waterstones, where they were able to purchase a book of their choice. This was a fabulous activity and the children involved thoroughly enjoyed looking through all the books.
• A book fair was held after World Book Day, this was well attended and the school made £452 commission to spend on books.
• The Reading Ambassadors continue to create displays in the library and update their class libraries.
• Blossom have taken some unused books and added them to their collection, this gives them a larger choice of books.
• Fixing Fluency continues with their termly revisit.
• The Children continue to be listened to by the class teacher, discussing what they have read. This allows quality time for the teacher to support each child.