Reading and Writing

Reading

Ensuring that all our children are able to read fluently and comprehend texts, is a core aim at St Lawrence Primary School. We work hard to develop children’s reading skills and promote a love for reading, by providing them with a strong foundation in phonics using a rigorous linguistic approach. We recognise that fluent reading is a fundamental skill that is used every day in every context, both in school and in the wider world. A priority is to also encourage each child to read for pleasure and enjoyment.

Phonics and early reading

Phonics teaching begins in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and continues throughout children’s time at St Lawrence. Teachers in EYFS and Key Stage 1 (KS1) use “Little Wandle” to aid them in the delivery of Phonics lessons. Little Wandle’s, step-by-step approach introduces the children to the 44 different sounds in the English language and their different spellings gradually and systematically. 

The Little Wandle’s scheme reflects the latest evidence-based understanding of how children learn. What this means for our children at St Lawrence is that the scheme is at the forefront of teaching and learning, enabling us to fully commit to our aim of providing the children with a strong foundation in early reading.

Little Wandle sessions, all follow the below four principles which help to ensure the optimum amount of learning for the maximum number of children.

1. Focused attention- short lessons with a regularity and elements repeated
2. Active engagement- continual expectation that children will respond in chorus and individually orally
3. Error feedback- children are immediately corrected if need be, but also praised when correct
4. Practise and consolidation- small items of learning are practised and repeated many times

Reading is complex: it is more than just word recognition. Comprehension plays a vital role in reading too. Comprehension starts without understanding of oral language and develops rapidly on the back of words and sentence reading.

This is why the Little Wandle approach also includes a clear “book reading” element to it. Children from autumn 2 in Reception and children from autumn 1 in Year 1, engage with three 20-minute reading sessions weekly with an adult. The children have books that have been carefully matched to children’s reading ability and include sounds that the children have been taught previously in class. In these sessions, the children develop three key skills:

1. Decoding
2. Prosody
3. Comprehension

This combined approach ensures that all children are read with regularly by an adult in school, in addition to developing core elements that will help the children in becoming fluent readers.

We provide an inclusive phonics environment that is reading rich. There are plenty of opportunities for children to apply their learning at initial sound level, word level and phrase level. For pupils who find it difficult to retain.

Children who require further support in Phonics will receive regular “keep-up” intervention (this could be daily or less frequent dependent on need). Children beyond Year 1 who have not met the threshold for phonics achievement, will take part in the “Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up” intervention, which supports children in mastering the phonic code and becoming fluent readers.

How do we assess in phonics?

Assessment takes place daily, and teachers use their ongoing assessments to target children who may need additional practise with the learning on the same day, as far as possible. 

In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle assessments.

Towards the end of Year 1 (June) Year 1 children do the statutory Phonics Screening check which involves reading 40 words to assess how well the children can decode.

Children who do not meet the standard in Year 1, will have additional teaching in Year 2 and then sit the screening again in the June of their Year 2 year.

Children who need to consolidate their phonics skills beyond Year 2 will need catch up sessions and will be assessed in line with the Little Wandle scheme receiving intervention and teaching that is tailored to what they need.

Further information can be found on the Little Wandle Website.

Reading in Key Stage 2

In KS2 we use  “Layered Reading”, which is inspired by both EEF research and Doug Lemov’s ” Reading Reconsidered”. This means that we concentrate on developing children’s fluency, engagement and comprehension of texts through daily reading sessions. Texts are carefully selected so that they are progressive and challenging for each year group: the goal being to teach children how to comprehend beyond their comfort zone in addition to exposure to interesting texts to support developing a life-long love of reading. Text choice will at times complement learning that is happening in other areas of the class e.g. science information texts, history biographies and poetry. 

Children take part in a daily reading session where they go through “layers” of teaching in order to develop the above areas. They will experience high-quality modelling by adults which demonstrates to the children how to read with prosody. The children will read with their peers, building their own prosody and fluency through choral reading, echo reading and “jumping” in. Children will be taught with a “close reading” technique, which explores the text in great detail examining vocabulary and ascertaining meaning through use of grammar and word selection. This also builds comprehension. Throughout sessions children will be asked “quick questions” which are discussion points with their peers, culminating in a “Big Question” diving deeper into the texts with focus on the National Curriculum content domains of: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary.

All classes also read regularly with their classes to inspire and expose our children to a wide body of literature.

How do we assess in reading?

Assessment in reading happens daily during reading sessions- this assessment helps to inform next steps in learning. 

In addition to this, children also take part in fluency assessments to assess words per minute and identify rapid support where required.

Children also take part in regular comprehension assessments, using National Test-style Standardised (NTS) assessments, once per term which is reported to parents at parents’ evening or in end of term reports.

Writing

At St Lawrence Primary School, we aim to equip our children with the skills they need to write fluently and appropriately for a wide range of different purposes and audiences. We develop our children’s writing across the whole curriculum and take opportunities where possible to make cross curricular links. This ensures that all aspects of the English curriculum are taught: reading, speaking & listening, grammar and spelling. 

Writing is taught in small steps, referred to as Key Learning Indicators (KPIs). Each small step builds the children’s knowledge and skill application of what is needed to write. These skills are assessed when the child complete a “Writing Outcome” which are longer pieces of writing at the end of each smaller “unit” of writing.  Outcomes will be for different purposes (to inform, to entertain, to persuade or to discuss) and children will have opportunities to write narrative or non- narrative and be inspired by a wide range of high-quality texts that are read with to them.

Our spelling programme builds on the children’s phonics learning in Reception and Year 1 and Year 2. It is progressive and ensures that through this programme, children are taught strategies to use when spelling words at the point of writing.

Handwriting is taught explicitly, using Letter-join. We prioritise the importance of foundational knowledge around fine and gross motor for our pupils and weave this into our handwriting sessions. The children have opportunities to practice their writing daily, as well as having formal lessons which teach letter formation, and support development of gross and fine motor skills.