Reading

Intent 

• At Swindon Academy, we strongly believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be confident, fluent readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts and be able to communicate confidently in English.   

• We want pupils to foster a love of reading by encouraging reading for pleasure, providing experiences of a wide range of authors and genres and immersing children in opportunities for reading every day.   

• We want pupils to develop empathy for others and grow to understand more about the world in which they live in through exploring a diverse range of carefully selected texts.   

• We understand the importance of parents and carers in supporting their children to become readers, and offer parent information sessions and resources to support children reading at home.  

Implementation  

• For EYFS and Key Stage 1 reading, see Phonics.  

• EYFS and Key Stage 1 also enjoy daily Talk Through Stories sessions designed to enhance children's vocabulary and comprehension through storytelling. The programme helps children love stories, bringing them to life through talk. It specifically and systematically builds their vocabulary and comprehension so they understand – and love – the books that they will go on to read for themselves.   

• In Key Stage 2, carefully planned reading lessons are taught 4 times a week.  

• In Years 3 and 4, reading lessons are taught from the ARK curriculum for reading. This is focused on building strong readers through a combination of phonics instruction, vocabulary development, and a wide range of texts. The curriculum utilises the "5 Pillars of Reading" (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) as a foundation for instruction.  

• In Years 5 and 6, we teach a bespoke reading curriculum written for our pupils. Reading planning is mapped around the key reading content domains for the specific year group with a particular focus on fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.  

• Across KS2, the curriculum is designed so that pupils have exposure to a variety of genres and authors over the year. Novels are read every term, alongside non-fiction and poetry texts to enable pupils to understand the different purposes for reading. 

• ​Reading skills are applied in other subject areas so that our children utilise their reading skills across the curriculum.  

• Teachers use shared reading, 1:1 individual reading, group reading and whole class reading to teach a range of skills and fluency techniques, which enable the children to comprehend the meaning of what they are reading and develop their understanding of the vocabulary used by the authors. 

• The school has an inviting and well resourced library area. Each class will visit at least once a week to enjoy the books available and children will borrow books to take home.  

• Every class participates in at least one shared story session per day where a high-quality text is shared; this may include stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction texts.  

• Reading is brought to life and celebrated throughout the school through class book-talk, teachers sharing books, classroom bookshelves or boxes for sharing, family reading events, books shared in assemblies and World Book Day.  

• Children who need support with reading, receive interventions either by reading 1:1 with an adult, small group interventions or use of Lexia (an online reading intervention programme).  

Impact   

• Children at Swindon Academy love reading; they love listening to stories; they love sharing books with their friends and they use their reading skills every day.  

• ​By the time our children leave our school, they are well on their way to becoming confident, fluent readers.  

• Our children enjoy their reading lessons and discuss texts with confidence.  

• Our children are able to talk about their favourite texts and authors and can recommend a book for a friend.  

• Children at our school are proud of their reading choices and ability.  

• Our children are able to read books and other texts to enhance their knowledge and understanding of all subjects.  

• Our children can confidently use a range of strategies for decoding words.  

• Children will make at least good progress in reading from their starting point in EYFS.