Because we want our children at Westwood to value reading as a fundamental life skill, we are dedicated to enabling our children to become lifelong readers. We have an ambition that all children will independently read fluently by the end of Key Stage 1, as we believe that reading is the key to overall academic success. We strive to promote a reading culture within the Westwood so we have therefore tailored our curriculum often utilising key texts as a focus of the learning journey. Reading is the backbone of our curriculum, immersing children in high-quality daily reading experiences. 

Reading Aims 

• To provide a language rich environment through oracy that promotes a culture of reading and writing; 

• To develop in pupils a love of reading and promote high-quality literature that will not only support their learning across the curriculum, but also extend beyond the classroom environment and enrich their lives; 

• To teach reading skills throughout Westwood that continually develop children’s understanding and enjoyment of texts; 

• To foster in pupils an interest in words and their meanings and to develop a growing vocabulary. 

Our priority is both the teaching of reading skills and the enjoyment of literature, enabling children to become lifelong, confident readers.

Children begin to read initially through the teaching of phonics. As children build some fluency, comprehension skills become more of a focus area and we concentrate on skills such as predicting, clarifying, inferring, analysing language and summarising. We believe that high-quality literature is key to motivating children to read and instilling in children a love of reading. This is why we use a wide range of high-quality literature in every class throughout the year. We believe that books are mirrors when readers see their own lives reflected in the pages. Books are windows when they allow readers a view of lives and stories that are different from their own.

Phonics

At Westwood Primary School, children begin to read in Reception using the synthetic Phonics scheme, DfE accredited, 'Jolly Phonics'. 

Phonics in EYFS

When children enter Westwood, in Autumn term EYFS, all children are taught to read in their whole class phonics lessons (5 x per week) and when reading either 1:1 or in small groups. By October half term, EYFS children will be organised into phonics groups. When ready, EYFS children will merge into groups with KS1. In these sessions there will be a focus on decoding skills to build reading independence and fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills. 

Children will progress through their skills from oral blending, to confident word reading and then applying digraphs within sentences. They will use their phonics books to support word reading and sentence reading. 

By the end of EYFS, all children meeting their early learning goal/working at age-expected level of reading will be reading yellow books. 

In whole class phonics sessions children will be taught Step 1 in Autumn Term, Step 2 in Spring Term and Step 3 in Summer Term.  

Phonics in KS1

Phonics group reading 

In Year 1, all children are being taught reading skills through phonics groups with the focus on reading strategies and comprehension skills, developing children’s fluency and independence.  By the summer term, it is expected that all those children working at age expected are reading blue level books. Year 2 children who are reading below green level books in September also access phonics groups with Year 1. 

Whole class phonics teaching 

In Year 1 and 2 children are taught 2x spelling lessons and 2x grammar lessons a week from the Jolly Phonics handbooks. 

Year 2 

In Year 2, children are taught 5x Guided Reading sessions fortnightly in Autumn term and weekly from Spring term. During the alternate weeks there is a focus on 1:1/group reading and independent reading/comprehension activities. 

Guided Reading

Classes use their designated class readers to guide the majority of their reading sessions. This strategy allows children to read and fully immerse themselves in a whole text, fostering a deeper connection to the story and enhancing their comprehension skills. By linking the text to writing activities, pupils can also develop their literacy skills and cultivate a love of reading.

In addition to this, other lessons will feature a diverse range of texts, including non-fiction, poetry and picture books. This variety helps to broaden pupils’ reading experiences and understanding. These sessions will focus on developing specific reading skills, such as analysing text features, comparing genres, and drawing inferences, enabling children to become well-rounded and confident readers.

Guided reading is taught for 30 minutes 5x per week in Year 2 and KS2 (In the Autumn term, Year 2 teach this fortnightly). 

Guided Reading texts

Each term will start with a two week unit based on a picture book. The picture books have been selected to progress on a theme across the school placing ‘big ideas at the heart’. All texts have been selected to be high quality and year group appropriate. 

Picture book themes: 

Autumn 1 - friendship 

Spring 1 - resilience 

Summer 1 - the environment 

Autumn 2 will begin with a focus on a poet. 

Spring 2 will be begin with a focus on a non-fiction author. 

Summer 2 will begin with a poetry focus set on a theme e.g. animals in Year 1. 

Class Reader books will then be the focus for the remainder of each half term. 

The main focus of Guided Reading will be high quality talk and the evidence (in books) will be a representation of thinking. Children will map out their representations in their books 1/2 times per week, focused on the teaching approaches. Question styles will be completed in books 5 times within weeks 3-6. 

Guided reading will be taught following this structure each half term: 

• Week 1-2 - teaching the approaches and reading skills based around a whole school picture book, poetry or non-fiction theme (expectation of 3 lessons recorded in books over the fortnight).  
• Week 3-6 - teaching the approaches, reading skills and question styles based around the class reader (expectation of 2 discussion lessons, one teaching approach (in books), one question styles lesson matched to the Class Reader (in books), one stand alone question styles lesson (in books). 

Guided Reading skills

Each cycle of learning (MTP) will focus on reading aloud skills to develop fluency and 2/3 of the teaching approaches to develop understanding skills.

Class Readers

In EYFS/KS1, reading for pleasure is modelled in class through class reader sessions. Independent reading for pleasure opportunities for children to develop their own love of reading are provided during provision area time in EYFS and during independent/partner reading time in Year 1 and Year 2. EYFS/KS1 follow a set list of Class Reader texts, where there is an expectation to read one set text a week, linked to either the English text or the wider curriculum. The other story sessions allow for choice by the class/teacher.

In KS2, the text from the English spine is shared with the class. Texts have been selected carefully by senior leaders to ensure a broad coverage. Dedicated class reader time is planned into the weekly timetable 5 x 15 minutes each week. This is time for children to come together and listen to their class story, giving them opportunities to discuss what they are hearing. Although this is not formally planned, teachers need to be aware of what is coming up in the book as they will need to ask appropriate questions based on the content domains as they are reading.

During class readers, teachers model enjoyment of high quality books and use questioning to develop the comprehension content domains - word meaning, retrieval, inference, order of text and prediction. During story times, new and familiar books are shared purely to foster enjoyment. This is a great opportunity to revisit class favourites and ‘overlearn’ familiar stories and poems.