Reading

literacy portfolio 1 .pdf

 

Intent

 

At Norbury we know that the importance of reading for children cannot be underestimated.  Reading enables children to explore other worlds, access information, consider new perspectives, follow instructions, build independence and build empathy, to name just a few!  Reading can benefit a child’s education, social and cognitive development and mental health.  We are proud to consider ourselves a 'Reading for Pleasure' School and staff members have completed OUP training in reading for pleasure to support this.

Every term, each class is set a reading challenge by the Headteacher.  Acknowledging the importance of providing our children with windows into the wider world, and our responsibility to promote understanding of themes of equality and diversity, we work with independent bookseller New Chapter Books to curate a selection of books for each class.  Currently, we are also working hard to build up our poetry selection in school.

Here is our latest reading challenge:

autumn reading challenge 2023.pdf

 

We understand that the ‘will to read influences the skill and vice versa’ (OECD, 2010) and are committed to developing our school as a reading community, creating social reading environments, sharing quality texts with the children and informal book talk and encouraging independent reading.  This is underpinned by systematic phonics teaching and appropriate programmes of support for children into Key Stage Two. 

Teaching develops competence in both word reading and comprehension.  Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Underpinning both is the understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words. At Norbury, we use Read, Write, Inc to support the development of phonics skills for early reading.  The ‘Fresh Start’ intervention programme is used to support older children who are still developing these key skills.

We understand that good comprehension draws from linguistic knowledge (in particular of vocabulary and grammar) and knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills are developed through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. Pupils are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world they live in, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.

By the end of their time at Norbury, it is our intention that all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

The document below shows the core progression in reading at Norbury.

reading core progression 1 .pdf