Reading Curriculum Statement of Intent 

It has always been our aim at Westwood to create a love for Reading and understand that is not just a subject, but a life of opportunities. From beginning our school, we prepare our children in every way to become passionate readers and allow them to understand why reading is such a valuable skill. As well as provide our children with engaging, challenging and inspirational Reading lessons throughout their time at Westwood, we also see Reading as a much wider picture across our curriculum. Whether it is finding out geographical facts about volcanoes or looking at a timeline of historians, we appreciate how Reading is so influential within every subject. We also see Reading as something which should always be celebrated and therefore hold regular themed days such as an annual Roald Dahl Day and World Book Day. School trips, assemblies, whole-class reading, a set library system and a ‘Little Free Library’ are some other examples of how we know our children are getting every opportunity possible to become a dedicated reader. Children do not just leave Westwood in Year 6 as knowledgeable readers but see Reading as something pleasurable and valuable in their lives, which we know will always have a positive impact for every child moving forward.

Reading Implementation

Reading lessons

When children have completed the Read Write Inc. programme, which for many children is during Year 2, children are given more of a comprehension focus in how they learn. We want our children to experience a variety of different texts and genres, therefore have a set of reading lists in place for our children to work through. Each reading group will be given a set of texts that they are going to work through for the whole year and genres will vary from fiction to non-fiction to even sets of poetry and playscripts. These text types for each year class can be found in school and on the Westwood Primary School website.

Reading lessons take place 4 times per week from Year 2 to Year 4 and five times per week for Year 5 and Year 6 and always consist of a comprehension focus. However, we want our children to see this as much more than just answering questions about texts, but opportunities for discussion, self-reflection and understanding. Teachers always plan their lessons with particular skills in mind, which you can find on our whole-school reading progression map on the school website. This clearly states the reading skills our children should be gaining in each year group in order to know that progression is continuous. To give our children a clearer understanding of the reading skills we want them to learn, we use a framework called ‘The Big 10.’ These skills are the following:

Goal - This is where the children consider why they are reading a particular text.

Preview – The children examine the books they are reading through the front and back cover, images and other parts of the text.

Monitor – Where the children consider their understanding of different texts as they are reading them.

Visualise – Children consider the pictures they make in their heads when reading texts. This also has a big relation to the five senses.

Connect – Where children make connections when they read that could relate to themselves, other texts and the rest of the world.

Question – The children consider the different questions they have when looking at texts, as well as look at different question types.

Infer – This is where the children become detectives and look for clues in the texts to make decisions about what they think is happening.

Predict – Where the children consider what happens next in different texts and what evidence they have to back up their ideas.

Summarise & Retrieve – The children consider the main themes from different texts and the key points the author wants them to know.

Evaluate – The children consider how much they rate a text and discuss what they like and dislike about it.

Teachers may focus on one of these particular skills in a lesson, however, might also teach about several of them if necessary.

2 of the lessons during the week will mainly be just whole-class reading sessions where the children will spend the lesson reading through a text with their teachers and peers. However, this will always be done with objectives in mind from either The Big 10 or our whole-school reading progression map. The other 3 lessons will also require some whole-class reading, however, will also consist of some independent work with these skills in mind.

Children in each year group also complete a termly assessment for their Reading. This is in the format of a comprehension task specific to the year group they are working at and is judged alongside their current Oxford Reading Tree level. This provides teachers with a clear understanding of the progression their children are making in Reading, which also gives them a clear idea of how their children can move forward in the subject.

When children complete a piece of Reading work, we also see marking and feedback as a fundamental way of making sure our children know how to move forward. Every child’s work is marked at the end of a reading lesson and should always celebrate their achievements in that particular lesson. Children also have opportunities to edit their work where necessary, which should help clear any misconceptions from the lesson, as well as give them opportunities to up-level their work.

The majority of our children in Year 4, 5 and 6 also participate in a 10-week scheme called Comprehension Express. For each year group, children will be provided with 3 texts, a workbook, a reading test practice book (Year 6) and expert tip cards, which allow the children to consider the skills that help them understand their texts. The aim behind the scheme is to build on the children’s comprehension test skills and confidence as well as provide opportunities to close any reading gaps.  The main purpose of the scheme is to help the children excel within the new National Reading Test. Children at this point will also move away from using ‘The BIG 10’ and will start using the ‘10 expert tips,’ which are aimed at a higher level.

One to one reading time

As well as completing at least four Reading lessons per week, teachers throughout school have one to one time with their children during the week to listen to them read an Oxford Reading Tree book. During this time, teachers focus on both the children’s fluency and understanding while reading a variety of text types. Children progress through different reading stages as they move through school, which allow them to continue learning new reading skills and become more familiar with different text types.

Children will be sent an Oxford Reading Tree book home two times per week and will be informed how much they should read before bringing their book back to school. Children are also given the opportunity to take a library book home, which they can read for pleasure. Books and authors are carefully considered in each classroom so we know children are getting the best out of what they read.

Reading Impact

As a result of a well-structured whole-school progression map, a variety of engaging reading resources in place, a progressive RWI system and many independent reading opportunities, we know our children will leave our school as confident readers, as well as hold a natural interest towards the subject. Our children are confident at talking about books they have read and this is a result of their detailed understanding of many reading skills and how to best comprehend in the subject.