Our intent is for all children to have a ‘Love of Reading’ and we realise that, in order to achieve this, our pupils need to have competent phonics and decoding skills. Being a Junior School, our pupils start in Year 3 where we are able to identify children who do not read at the expected standard and then we plan accordingly…
- All children are baselined on entry to the school.
- Children repeat their Y1 Phonics Screening test so that we can quickly assess gaps in phonic knowledge.
- This screening enables us to quickly identify those children who will need extra support.
- The Phonics Screening is not taken in isolation. One to one reading with the Y3 teachers and a vocabulary quiz helps support our judgments.
- Children are separated into three clear groups – 1) pupils who are able to access regular Reading Skills sessions practising their VIPERS skills, 2) pupils who need to quickly learn a few gaps in phonics knowledge and 3) pupils who have a significantly low phonics knowledge and need structured RWI (Read Write Inc) sessions.
- Year 3 children who struggle the most with Reading have further support, reading daily with various adults (reading recovery teacher, class teachers, teaching assistants, deputy headteacher or governors)
- Our supportive Chair of Governors (Sheena Morton) volunteers to read with Y3 children on a weekly basis- writing in their Reading Records and giving feedback to the class teachers.
