Reading Vision Statement

At Worstead, we believe that it is essential that our children will learn to read and then read to learn, enabling them to access all learning throughout the curriculum. 

\We have a strong belief that it is our duty to ensure that every child develops a love of reading, books and stories. We believe that reading for pleasure helps with cognitive development and raises educational standards in English and the across the curriculum. We encourage children to read for pleasure, supporting them to become ‘lifelong’ readers and this vision is at the forefront of our approach. We are members of the Wensum English Hub, our local expert group focussed on reading.

Teaching of reading at Worstead reflects the aims of the 2014 National Curriculum and EYFS Statutory Framework, which are to:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
•  write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
•  use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

To achieve this:

• children in KS1 will take part in regular group reading sessions following the Little Handle Letters & Sounds early reading scheme using phonically-decodable books.
• Children in KS2 will take part in whole-class reading sessions which follow our VIPERS approach to reading comprehension, led by adults or including independent activities. These sessions adopt the ‘Book Talk’ approach where the whole class share the same text with specific focus

• KS1 children have daily phonics sessions following Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme
• EYFS/KS1 children read phonically-decodable books matched to their phonics level which is assessed half-termly. 
• KS2 children have regular ‘No Nonsense Spelling’ sessions focusing on spelling rules
• We shall follow ‘The Power of Reading’ scheme, which uses quality literature, along with creative teaching approaches to develop a love of reading throughout the whole school
• we shall use Accelerated Reader quizzes to monitor children’s reading comprehension
• the children will have termly Star Reading assessments to monitor reading progress
• we shall ensure children are able to access the school library on a daily basis providing the children with an exciting variety of books, guided by trained librarians
• selected children will visit Beanstalk reading practitioners that provide one-to-one support to children individually
• other trained volunteers listen to readers regularly
• children will be provided time to read for pleasure, share books and discuss texts
• we shall encourage and celebrate reading at home
• we shall use interventions to support a ‘keep up, not catch up’ philosophy
• we shall congratulate pupils’ ambition, resilience and progress in reading using reading stamp cards and book award in celebration assemblies