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Intent: Here at Dormers Wells Infant and Junior School, we strongly believe in the importance of building a love of learning to reading from a very early age. We intend for every child to be given the best opportunity to flourish and prepare for life beyond school by studying a diverse range of texts that are relevant to our learner’s ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.
In Nursery, a love of books is nurtured and developed in a range of ways-including sharing high quality texts during group story time and providing exciting opportunities for the pupils to access and explore books within the environment; both independently and alongside their peers and adults. Pupils are encouraged to talk about and share their favourite stories, poems, rhymes and songs and incorporate these experiences into their play.
Pupils are given opportunities to explore a range of quality texts within the classroom, and outside of it, through whole class story sessions and quiet reading times. They are encouraged to read groups of letters on a page, make up nonsense words with their growing phonics knowledge and understand how words carry meaning. It is an exciting time as pupils begin to decode the marks and shapes on the page and in their everyday environment which will contribute to a growing love for books and reading. An interest in books is developed by sharing songs, stories and rhymes, fostering opportunities to talk and re-enact stories. Books are shared with the pupils daily (this is through the use of decodable books-Big Cats Phonics). Throughout child-initiated learning time, pupils have the opportunity to explore books of their own interest in quiet and inviting book corners. Books are changed regularly by the pupils at the School Library to enable ownership over their book corners.
Reading in Key Stage 1, is mainly taught through 20 minute phonics sessions. In addition to phonics sessions, the pupils are given reading sessions where decoding, prosody and comprehension are taught through specific skills. Learners have the opportunity to read a range of quality texts including fiction and non-fiction with some clear cross curricular links. They are given time to practise new skills and apply them independently and as a class. Teachers will model good reading through daily class reader sessions and will ensure that pupils have the opportunity to read 1:1 with an adult on a weekly basis. Within the classroom, they will be provided with an exciting and stimulating reading corner and have the opportunity to select books of interest from the school library on a regularly in order to further support their love of reading.
From Years 3 to 6, pupils take part in daily reading lessons with clear learning intentions based on age appropriate reading skills. Over the course of the week, the pupils are introduced to a specific reading skill, have the opportunity to practise the skill before applying it to an unseen text. A range of high quality texts are incorporated into the lessons, spanning a range of genres (fiction and non-fiction) and topics. Each week, a lesson is dedicated to the development of vocabulary and word meaning. Pupils are taught, and develop, a range of strategies for working out the meaning of unfamiliar words including using dictionaries and thesauruses. In Key stage 2, pupils are given the opportunity to build up their reading stamina in addition to developing test strategies and practising writing well-reasoned, concise answers that are justified with evidence. Children have the opportunity to read a range of different books for pleasure including, but not limited to, books from the reading spine (Oxford Reading Tree), the school library as well as class library.
Dormers Wells Primary School is a Right Respecting School we follow the UN Conventions Rights for children where we teach children about rights, through rights and for rights. We believe children who have understanding of their rights also understand how others and how they should be treated. Also, we aim to create a safe environment and atmosphere for our children. Rights Respecting gives children a voice to express themselves and challenge any injustices. They feel empowered to access information and make informed decisions about their learning, health and wellbeing. As a school, we want to equip our children to advocate for rights where they can promote equality, fairness and safety.
Reading
Article 13- Every child must be free to express their thoughts and opinions and to access all kinds of information, as long as it is in the law.
