Reading Intent

At Breadsall Hill Top Primary School, we believe that language acquisition sits at the heart of our reading curriculum which in turn enables the children in our care to gain the powerful knowledge that they need to become fluent readers, who have a clear understanding of what they read.  Alongside this, we also teach the skills of being a reader and aim to instil in our children a life-long love of reading.

Why reading is integral to the wider curriculum in schools

Research has shown that:

• 1 in 8 children do not own a book at home,
• By the time children reach EYFS, they can already have a vocabulary that is in deficit by 30 million words (Hart and Risely, 1995),
• 90% of vocabulary is encountered in academic reading (Stanovich, 1993),
• Knowledge is the strongest predictor of success at secondary school (Hirsch, 2018),
• It is highly unlikely that disadvantaged children will ever catch up at secondary school (Fisher et al, 2011),
• Background knowledge is a stronger predictor of comprehension than generic strategies.

So how do we achieve this aim?

Fluency and Comprehension

The first step for children on their journey to becoming fluent readers is to provide them with the tools they will need to a be able to recognise and decode the symbols needed to be a reader.  This process begins in EYFS and KS1, where children are taught word recognition skills such as phonological awareness (syllables, phonemes, etc), decoding skills (alphabetic principle, spelling-sound correspondences) and sight recognition of familiar words.  This is taught through the Pearl Phonics scheme (for more information, see the Phonics curriculum link).

As their ability to use their word recognition skills continues, we then begin to weave in the skills of language comprehension.  This is the ability to understand what is being read in terms of the genre of the text, language structures, vocabulary, verbal reasoning and background knowledge.  This is done through the introduction of whole class reading lessons usually in the Spring Term of Year 1.  These lessons  provide opportunities for children learn reading skills, such as retrieval and inference, modelled by the teacher and then to practise it independently.  Throughout their school journey,  word recognition skills and language comprehension skills become inextricably linked.

The many strands that are woven into skilled reading

Vocabulary

“Language opens doors.  It unlocks the world of reading and the imagination, the excitement of writing, the capacity to explore new subjects and releases our potential to learn and grow as an individual.”

Jane Harley

At BHTP, we carefully select the vocabulary that we want children to acquire using Isabel Beck’s three-tier hierarchy for words we should teach in the classroom. This vocabulary is reinforced throughout our wider curriculum, with a progressive build-up of key vocabulary across year groups.

Children then explore the meaning of the word through tasks such as:

• establishing the etymology and common word parts to explore meaning,
• find common word families, interesting synonyms or antonyms for the words,
• explore their understanding of the word through peer tasks,
• explore their understanding of the word by restating the meaning of the word in their own way (create their own dictionary definition),
• explore examples of the word in use,
• explore images or ideas evoked by the word,
• explore further questions prompted by the word.

By repeatedly exposing children to the words taught and encouraging their use in real-life situations and in other areas of the curriculum strengthens children’s ability to remember and use the word long-term.

Reading for pleasure

We believe that reading should be a fundamental part of childhood and a skill which should be developed to support lifelong learning and to encourage children to become lifelong readers. We are committed in our drive to encourage our children to read for pleasure. This begins in the early years with the development of a ‘love for books’ and continues throughout the school. Research shows a positive link between reading frequency, enjoyment and educational attainment.  Reading for pleasure also has positive emotional and social benefits, improves text comprehension and grammar skills and increases general knowledge.  We have several initiatives in school to encourage reading for pleasure:

• Staff promoting reading for pleasure by sharing their own reading experiences
• Daily reading aloud in class from a range of texts
• Inspiring reading areas and ranges of books
• Participation in National events such as World Book day
• Book swaps – children are encouraged to swap books with their peers
• Parent book swaps
• Reading assemblies