We aim to inspire a love of reading in all Glenfrome children. We use inspirational texts to engage children, teachers plan drama activities and lots of writing in role as characters, providing the children with key language and an enthusiasm for literature.
The teaching of reading begins with synthetic phonics taught using Essential Letters and Sounds. Children build their knowledge of phonics alongside the learning of harder to read and spell words. The children practise using phonic skills when reading phonetically decodable texts that match their phonic knowledge. They also take home a library book to share to support development a love of reading. In Key Stage 1 children go on to read in a guided reading group once they have reached age related expectations. Key stage 2 children read during a combination of whole class comprehension lessons and guided/individual reading.
Reading Books
During the teaching of early reading, children will only be reading from the Word Sparks decodable texts which match the Essential Letters and Sounds phonics progression. Once children have passed the Phonics Screening, they will read from our banded books, which contain books from PM Thorne, Rigby Star, Bug Club, Storyworld, Project X and Oxford Reading Tree amongst others.
Reading Recovery
Reading Recovery is a programme for children in KS1 who have been identified as requiring intensive specialist support. This teaching is delivered by our trained Reading Recovery teacher and involves approximately 20 weeks of one to one support. The aim of the programme is for children to reach age appropriate levels by the end of the programme which means they make accelerated progress.
Boosting Reading @ Primary (BRP)
All our Teaching Assistants and some parents and volunteers are trained to give BRP sessions. We are also lucky enough to have regular support from trained volunteers from DAS legal insurance as well as visiting UWE students who work with our children as part of their training. These sessions support pupils from across the school that are just below average and need targeted support for a short time in order to meet age related reading levels.
Other Reading Interventions
Our aim is for children to 'keep up' rather than 'catch up' so during early reading teaching, additional support is given in the lesson for children with gaps. However, if assessments show children require further additional support, this is provided through the Essential Letters and Sounds intervention sessions. These interventions may also be used with KS2 pupils. We also provide extra reading support with Inference Intervention which focuses on developing the children’s comprehension.
Engaging the children
We have a text rich environment where we encourage all children to be readers and writers as this will develop their love, knowledge and understanding of literature. Playing word games, word searches, reading and making rhymes all help children to understand and use language that they might not use every day and support their creativity. Using inspirational texts, children can partake in drama activities and lots of writing in role as characters, providing them with key language and an enthusiasm for literacy.
Reading for Pleasure
We work hard to encourage children of all ages to gain a love of reading and to want to read for pleasure. Our library offers a large and exciting range of books that are easily accessible to the children. Glenfrome Primary school also encourages reading through a variety of reading events such as World Book Day, book fairs and sponsored events.
