Chesham Bois CE School

English Reading

The study of English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. The use of written and verbal language in the classroom enables children to communicate ideas, views and feelings creatively and imaginatively. As they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry, playscripts, non-fiction and media texts, children gain an understanding of how language works. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations.

The aims of English are:

• to enable children to speak clearly and audibly in ways which take account of their audience;
• to encourage children to listen with concentration in order to be able to identify the main points of what they have heard, and respond appropriately;
• to enable children to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands;
• to develop children’s abilities to reflect on their own and others’ contributions and the language used;
• to enable children to explore and evaluate their own and others’ thoughts, feelings and beliefs, through a range of drama activities;
• to develop confident, independent readers through an appropriate focus on word, sentence and text-level knowledge;
• to encourage children to become enthusiastic and reflective readers through immersion in challenging, texts and discussions;
• to help children enjoy writing and recognise its value;
• to enable children to write with accuracy and meaning in narrative and non-fiction;
• to increase the children’s ability to use planning, drafting and editing to improve their work.

Reading intent

At CBS, reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Children are taught through a carefully sequenced learning journey how to read and how to utilise this skill to understand the world around them. Through reading and being read to, children will obtain a wide and diverse vocabulary to express themselves eloquently, both orally and in written work. In addition, children will become aware and show understanding of the world around them including different cultures and backgrounds. Ultimately, our reading curriculum endeavours to nurture children’s love of reading, as a result they will become lifelong readers who are enthusiastic, fluent and curious.

Reading implementation

At CBS, the foundations of early reading are developed and prioritised in EYFS and Year One (continuing through Year Two and further as necessary) through the Supersonic Phonics programme of study (please see separate phonics statement for more information).

The prioritisation of reading is continued throughout the school and children across all three key stages have the opportunity to develop their reading skills in a variety of ways including guided reading sessions, home reading, paired reading, online reading, wider reading across the curriculum, regular opportunities for independent reading and hearing high-quality texts read aloud, modelled by adults.

Each year group has a Super Six Story Spine, offering all our children a core bank of texts that ensures they experience a range of high-quality texts and authors during their time at school. We have identified six key high-quality core texts for each year group for each term (12 in EYFS). The texts are made up of a range of text types, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Teachers use these in a range of ways, as whole-class texts to share when reading for pleasure, during guided reading or whole-class reading lessons, as part of their literacy lessons and in connection with our topics.

In addition, each of our humanities topics is supported by a range of quality fiction/non-fiction texts. These are sourced from our local library, enabling children to see the value of using these reading resources. These ‘red topic boxes’ are used for various purposes including; reading for meaning/pleasure, supporting learning in topic, stimulating ideas for writing. 

We pride ourselves on being a vocabulary rich school. Children are exposed to a wide range of relevant vocabulary related to children’s learning across the curriculum. In each class, topic vocabulary for core and foundation subjects can be found all around the classroom to enrich learning experiences and encourage regular reading of these words. In addition, word mats are displayed and available for children to access during writing time across the curriculum.

At CBS, we support children in understanding the interrelated nature of reading and writing. As such, during English units of work, children are offered opportunities to read their writing aloud to other children. This takes different forms depending on the unit of work, for example performing poetry to their own class or reading stories to an older/younger cohort.

Importantly, we recognise the significance of parents and carers in supporting their children to develop both word reading and comprehension skills so we endeavour to build a home-school partnership which enables parents and carers to have the confidence to support their children with reading at home.  Each of these components helps to build a school wide community of engaged readers and offers our children the range of opportunities they need in order to become enthusiastic, fluent and critical readers.

Reading for pleasure:

At CBS we promote reading for pleasure across the school through a range of engaging experiences across the year. These include;

• Paired reading across different year groups to enable children to be and have reading role models within the school.
• Super Six texts
• Reading champion awarded termly for each class.
• ERIC reading sessions (Everybody Reading In Class).
• Annual reading bingo or sponsored read to encourage participation in a variety of reading activities at home. Children are rewarded with certificates and book vouchers at the end of term celebration assembly.
• Author visits. 
• Book week/day in the Spring term.
• Year Six balloon debate. All Year Six children work in groups to act in role as their favourite book characters. They justify why their characters and book should be allowed to stay in a ‘hot air balloon’ over other participating characters. 
• EYFS/KS1 story time club.
• Libraries; our school and class libraries allow children to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of books. They are stocked with an attractive range of fiction and non-fiction to support every ability and reading choice and encompass the latest reading trends and classic texts that should be part of every child’s primary school experience- building the children’s cultural capital.
• Come and read sessions when parents are invited into school.
• Strong relationship with the local library, who welcome us on school visits and deliver whole school assemblies to launch reading challenges at the library. 
• Performances; children learn to read, understand and read aloud play scripts for a variety of reasons including termly class assemblies, Christmas productions and end of year productions.
• Theatre visits; children experience 1 live show at a local theatre (the Elgiva) at least once a year. They also watch and participate in Image theatre’s interactive performance in the school hall yearly. In order for the children to join in with this, they need to be able to read the words on a screen. These experiences also support children’s understanding of the value of learning to read play scripts and inspire loud and clear spoken language.
• Oxford Reading Buddy

Reading Impact

The CBS reading curriculum has developed a community of enthusiastic readers who enjoy showcasing their developing literacy knowledge and skills. Children are confident to take risks in their reading and love to discuss and share their ideas.

By the time our children leave Chesham Bois CE School they will:

• recognise the close relationship between reading and writing;
• read for pleasure a wide range of literature: have instilled in them a love of reading and storytelling, poetry and plays, as well as non-fiction texts; gain sustained learning and transferable skills
• read accurately and with understanding to develop into confident and independent readers;
• have an interest in words, their meaning, and a growing vocabulary. This interest extends to the technical and specialist vocabulary of all subjects;
• have an understanding and respect of the wider world including different cultures and backgrounds;
• experience learning opportunities which integrate speaking and listening, reading and writing activities;

Reading impact at CBS can also be measured through:

• High progress measures from a child’s initial reading ability                                               
• Y1 Phonic Screening Check pass rates                                                                           
• Y6 SATs reading results                                                                                                
• High levels of comprehension and vocabulary development                                            
• High levels of engagement in the books children read                                      
• The ability to read across a range of subjects
• A fostering of reading for pleasure