At Co-op Academy Friarswood, we have an English curriculum which is underpinned by a love of reading. We have designed our curriculum around quality texts which we have carefully chosen to ensure all children enjoy a rich variety of enjoyable literature throughout their primary education. 

We are committed to ensuring that all our children have the best start in reading through a personalised, systematic and rigorous approach to early reading and timely intervention for those behind age-related expectations. 

Phonics

Throughout school, we use the Read, Write Inc. teaching principles and method as our systematic synthetic phonics scheme. All staff have received full training within this scheme, and we offer a smaller size of groups during these sessions for a higher quality delivery.

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first, they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then they learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes. They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a voice.

Read Write Inc. Phonics, the programme, is for: 

• Pupils in Nursery to Year 2 who are learning to read and write  
• Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly  

In Read Write Inc. Phonics, pupils work towards the following skills:  

• Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills  
• Read common exception words on sight
• Understand what they read
• Read aloud with fluency and expression  
• Write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar  
• Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words  
• Acquire good handwriting. 

In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge. 

We group pupils homogeneously, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing will lag-behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed. 

In Nursery and Reception we emphasise the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily. Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings – common exception words. 

We use the corresponding RWI Book Bag Books for home reading which make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher supports their increasingly fluent decoding. 

Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to pupils; they are soon able to read these texts for themselves. 

Embedding the alphabetic code early on means that pupils quickly learn to write simple words and sentences. We encourage them to compose each sentence aloud until they are confident to write independently. We make sure they write every day. 

Pupils write at the level of their spelling knowledge. The quality of the vocabulary they use in their writing reflects the language they have heard in the books the teacher has read to them; they have also discussed what the words mean. 

Our aim is for pupils to complete the phonics programme as quickly as possible. The sooner they complete it, the sooner they will be able to choose books to read at their own interest and comprehension level. 

Assessment and Tracking Progress 

All children on the Read Write Inc. programme are assessed using the assessment sheets from Read Write Inc. half termly and then placed into groups for the following half term based on their assessment result. This ensures that all children are being taught the phonetic knowledge that they need in order to progress at the expected standard. If a child makes rapid progress, then they will be assessed on an individual basis and moved groups between half terms if the class teacher feels appropriate.

All Reception children and any new starters in our school are assessed as soon as possible (depending on the emotional need of the child) so that they can be placed into the correct group immediately. 

The results of the half termly assessments are put into the tracking grid so that the progress of all children can be easily identified. This supports the reading leader in identifying any children who are not on track to make expected progress, and this will therefore ensure that intervention is in-place to support that child. 

Pupils who are making slower progress usually complete the programme by the end of Year 2. We support pupils who have identified special educational needs for however long it takes until they can read. For example, we identify those who are at risk of falling behind their peers immediately – whatever their age. Highly trained staff tutor them for 15 minutes every day, using the Read Write Inc. one-to-one tutoring programme. If a child arrives in Key Stage 2 reading below their chronological age or with English as an additional language, they are taught Read Write Inc. Phonics until they too catch up with their peers. 

By the end of Key Stage 1, our pupils are able to read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed for comprehension. This means that we can focus on developing their comprehension, preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2. Their good decoding skills mean that they have a sound strategy for decoding unfamiliar words when they come across them at whatever stage or in any subject, even into secondary school.

Reading 

After completion of the Read Write Inc. programme, we work on comprehension skills using the VIPERS approach (the key question types: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary). We continue daily reading lessons, 3 of which are lessons linked by a theme and feature unseen texts or extracts. These texts have been carefully chosen by the English Lead to ensure a breadth of diverse, quality literature is experienced throughout their time at Friarswood. They have been chosen to support the development of vocabulary, deeper thinking and contextual knowledge and understanding. Some of these texts are linked by themes such as ancient Greece, light and dark, classic novels or song lyrics. The themes are often linked to other subject areas for each year group which models reading to research and find out more in other curriculum areas.  Lessons place a strong emphasis on discussion and developing speaking and listening skills. One of the remaining lessons is used as an Accelerated Reader lesson where each child reads a book at their personal reading level and teachers focus on listening to individual readers and discussing their progress. The remaining lesson will be personalised to the cohorts’ needs which can range from class novel reading, to explicit comprehension skills teaching. 

Assessment

The children are assessed using the Accelerated Reader ‘Star Assessment’, which gives a ZPD range score to indicate suitable challenge level books for each child. A wide variety of ‘real’ books are available at each level for the children to choose from and enjoy at home. Each book has a quiz for the children to complete after reading which monitors individual reading comprehension levels.  All children’s reading levels are assessed at least half termly across the school to ensure appropriate challenge. 

All children from Y1 – Y6 have summative reading assessments each term which allows for individual progress to be tracked and intervention to be put in place if necessary. 

Additional support for lower-attaining pupils learning to read 

Pupils in the ‘lowest’ attaining group have the widest variety of needs. This is therefore the least homogeneous group. In order to give these pupils the same carefully targeted teaching as all the other groups, some of these pupils have daily one-to-one tutoring for 10 to 20 minutes, in addition to their group session in the morning. This tutoring helps us to meet their individual needs. Once these pupils have learnt to read, they will receive additional support when learning to spell.