Reading is at the heart of Lingdale Primary School. Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at school. We want every child to love reading and to want to read for themselves. Therefore, we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. At the heart of our strategy is our drive to foster a love of reading, enriching children’s learning through carefully designed teaching activities that utilise imaginative stories and thought-provoking texts. From the important foundations in our systematic and structured phonics program to our range of class novels, school library, visits to our local library, interaction with authors, celebrated book days, awards and class reading corners, we make sure our school illustrates the importance of reading at every turn.
Reading is a skill that enables children to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and lays the foundations for success in future lines of study and employment. We recognise the importance of taking a consistent whole federation approach to the teaching of reading in order to close any gaps and to target the highest possible number of children attaining the expected standard or higher.
Reading Intent
We aim to provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities, which will help them to:
*Develop a good linguistic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and develop a deeper level of emotional intelligence and empathy.
*Gain a life-long enjoyment of reading a range of engaging and challenging texts from a range of genres (fiction, non-fiction and poetry).
*Become fluent and age appropriate readers across Early Years and Key Stage 1 through our fully embedded and progressive phonic scheme Little Wandle as well as exposing children to appropriate texts to build further reading skills.
*Reach the expected standard in Year 1 phonics with word reading fluency being the most important focus on the curriculum. This will then allow our children to build on their understanding of what they have read, exposure to an increasing range of vocabulary and developed comprehension skills ready for Key Stage Two.
*Access and explore class novels and weekly extracts with coverage of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
Children accessing Little Wandle weekly take home a book suitably matched to their phonic knowledge and all children can select a book from the school library or home loan areas following our ‘home school reading initiative.
Early Reading
At Lingdale Primary School, we strive to ensure that all children learn the phonetic code. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Revised scheme of learning to deliver our progressive phonics teaching. This complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) teaches children to decode (read) and encode (spell). Our systematic phonics provision allows the literary and wider world to open up to the children whilst meeting all the expectations of the National Curriculum and preparing children to go beyond the expectations of the Phonics Screening Check. More information on the ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised’ scheme for parents can be found here.
These four videos show you how to pronounce the sounds. Notice how the children don’t add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, so they say: ‘t’ not ‘tuh’.
The videos below show you how we teach your child specific aspects of phonics in class.
Whole Class Reading
When the children have completed the Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds Programme, they then move on to a whole class reading approach. We teach reading through two different approaches: whole class texts and through access of a daily novel. The daily novel is read for at least 15 minutes to the class by the class teacher after lunch to model good reading though fluency and expression. At Lingdale Primary, we recognise that reading extends beyond decoding and fluency. In order for children to become successful readers in the longer term, children must develop language, comprehension, dispositions and linguistic skills that phonics alone cannot deliver. We value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and enjoy reading for pleasure. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose. Reading ‘real’ books is at the heart of our curriculum and within our school timetable we ensure that children across the school have access to authentic texts. Across all age ranges, children are able to enjoy the experience of reading together and sharing the joy and emotions of a shared text. Staff read to children of all ages daily, sharing their passion for and skill in reading aloud; this time is protected and prioritised within our curriculum. Modelling prosody, through pace, flow, rhythm, language patterns and rhyme, is essential so that all children are hearing quality oration of texts.
Reading Environment
Every classroom features a bright, stimulating and inviting book corner, regularly updated with high-quality texts. These spaces are designed for children to sit, relax and enjoy reading for pleasure. Within these corners, you’ll find teacher and pupil recommendations, book reviews and selections that include previously read texts, year group reading list titles, and books chosen to reflect the interests of each class. We also ensure a diverse range of genres and formats, including non-fiction, graphic novels and Picture News to cater to different reading preferences.
We’ve recently enhanced our outdoor reading spaces, including our Reading Shed and Outdoor Reading Area, which are updated weekly with exciting books on a pull out trolley. These areas provide opportunities for children to enjoy reading during break and lunchtime in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.
Reading Policies
| Phonics Policies & Documents | Download |
| Phonics and Early Reading | Download |
