Ramnoth Junior School Reading Policy February 2013

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates loot on Treasure Island. The stories we love best do live in us forever. JK Rowling Walt Disney

Rationale At Ramnoth Junior School we believe reading is the key to success and fundamental in developing independent learners in all areas of the curriculum. Reading development is closely related to that of writing, speaking and listening, for it is by immersion in text, reflecting and talking about it and by experiencing the writing process for themselves that children come to understand the special relationship which exists between author and reader. It is through their critical and imaginative engagement with texts that pupils reading of fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts enables them to make sense of the world and their place in it. This policy, therefore, must be implemented in conjunction with the other policies for English which are followed at Ramnoth Junior School. Reading should be a valuable and rewarding aspect of the childrens learning and consequently should open the door to a world of knowledge.

Aims The school aims to develop literate children who: Love reading and who get excited about the potential offered by books. Have the opportunity to listen to stories regularly (read and oral including e-resources) and can understand the relevance of story within their lives. Enjoy sharing their reading with their parents/carers. Read with confidence, fluency and understanding, orchestrating a range of independent strategies to self monitor and correct. Understand the sound and spelling system and use this to read accurately. Have an interest in a wide range of texts and read for enjoyment and information. Have an interest in words and their meaning and who have developed a varied and rich vocabulary. Have accessed a range of genres including IT based resources and understand these text types. Use conventions of library organisation and ICT systems to access texts to locate information. Evaluate and justify their preferences. Develop powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.

Teaching and Learning In order to achieve the objectives, dedicated time each day has been structured into the timetable to allow teachers to deliver high-quality, focussed teaching of the skills to read. The school will use a systematic and developmental approach to teaching reading strategies including: phonic knowledge (visual information) grammatical knowledge (structural information)

word recognition and graphic knowledge (visual information) contextual knowledge (meaning)

Alongside teaching children to acquire the skills they need in order to read, the school will also aim to develop childrens understanding of what they are reading through:Recall and literal understanding Developing inference skills Ensuring children can make connections when reading Encouraging reading in order to learn Our ultimate aim is for the children to become confident and independent readers with high levels of enjoyment, understanding and comprehension. To promote enjoyment of reading and the understanding that reading is a life-long skill.

Expectations All children will bring their reading book and home/school diary into school each day For children who read from the schools reading scheme, the teacher/teaching assistant will provide a reading book Children are given the opportunity to change their reading books daily A record of the book is made in the Reading Records folder held in each class. The teacher/teaching assistant records their comments on the childs individual record card every time they hear a child read. Specific reading skills-these are taught within the individual, guided and shared reading times. Individual reading: the teacher will hear each child read 1:1 on a weekly basis and the teacher records progress made/issues in whole class Reading Records folder. Teachers should use green ink to record comments. Guided reading: each child will take part in guided reading each week. Records and evidence for each assessment focus (AF) are kept by teachers along with APP sheets. In the Reading Records folder, there are copies of the latest reading assessments, each childs end of year reading target and evidence of children reading on an individual basis. The teacher/teaching assistant records strategies the children are using, gaps in phonetic knowledge, unknown high frequency words and/or progress being made. Reading aloud children will have the opportunity to share their written work by reading it aloud to the rest of the class and read sections of shared text. The children also hear stories read aloud by the teacher. Silent reading the children are expected to have their current reading books in school as there are regular opportunities for silent reading There are daily phonics lessons. Teachers organise phonic booster groups for children who need support in Phonic Phases. Library time available weekly to children to change fiction and non-fiction books. Parents are requested to always encourage the children to read and to write positive comments in the home/school diary.

Guided Reading Guided Reading is an integral part of the daily literacy programme. Using assessment data children are to be grouped according to reading ability. Each group is to have a task set at their ability in order to challenge and improve their reading skills. The teacher will focus on one group each day working on a structured text, set to meet the targets of those children. Guided Reading should be focused and provide opportunities for children to make rapid improvement.

Role of Parents and Carers Parents and Carers are strongly encouraged to be actively involved in their childrens reading routines at all ages by listening to their children read, reading to their children, and by promoting a home environment where books are valued. Often pupils undertake a variety of reading activities at home in connection with other curriculum areas and parents are encouraged to become active listeners and readers, using simple strategies to question and enhance the reading and comprehension process. Ramnoth Junior School informs parents and carers about the schools approach to reading through the schools prospectus, its website and the initial meeting to welcome new children.

SEN The SENCo meets regularly with the Literacy Co-ordinator to monitor the progress in reading. Those children, who are identified as a result of tests or during normal classroom activities, will be assessed to determine the appropriate provision for their needs. Our policy is monitored and reviewed to ensure that all pupils have equality of access to a range of reading opportunities and experiences and that all pupils achieve to the best of their potential regardless of gender, race or culture.

Monitoring and Assessment The children are assessed and records are kept in line with the schools assessment policy. The data from these assessments is used to: - Action any special needs provision - Group the children - Identify the most able children to ensure provision of extension/enrichment work Through assessment and dialogue, the children are set reading targets to achieve. These targets are differentiated according to age and ability. These link to the Assessment Foci for Reading as set out in the Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) model for assessment. AF1 Use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning. AF2 - Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text. AF3 - Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts. AF4 - Identify and comment on the structure and organization of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level. AF5 - Explain and comment on the writers use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level. AF6 - Identify and comment on writers purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the text on the reader. AF7 - Relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions.

Resources Ramnoth Junior School provides a print rich environment. The Library holds the Reading Scheme levelled books; each level consists of a range of fiction and non-fiction books for the children to choose from. Reading Scheme books and Guided reading books have been levelled using Bookbanding guidance. All classrooms have an interesting well stocked book area which includes fiction and non-fiction books, and which reflect the diverse culture of our school. Provision is made for those with English as an additional language and those with Special Educational Needs.

Library The library contains a good selection of fiction and nonfiction books, regularly updated and added to with the use of money raised through scholastic book fairs. The children are encouraged to take books out on a weekly basis. Fiction books are shelved in alphabetical order by the authors name. There are a large selection of picture books and big books for younger readers. Non-fiction books are catalogued using the Dewy System. Each pupil has their own account and can log books in and out of the computer system.

Through following the guidance in this reading policy, the staff at Ramnoth junior School endeavours to meet the aims as laid down at the outset of this policy document.

Agreed by SLT and staff __________ To be reviewed