Reading is at the heart of all we do.  This is reflected in the huge investment we have made in our new fully decodable reading scheme (Big Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised) and our Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics scheme.  Our recent “Boogie for Books” has raised additional funds to further diversify our reading for pleasure books across the curriculum.

Our children experience a rich reading environment taking home a sharing book, a library book and one fully decodable book each week.  For our children who find the reading journey more challenging additional support is provided through intervention lessons, daily catch up and additional reading sessions.

Intent

At Trumps Green Infant School, reading is at the heart of all we do and is a key driver for our curriculum.

It is our intention that all pupils become fluent, confident readers by the time they leave us for junior school.

At Trumps Green Infant School, we believe reading is the gateway to the curriculum and enables every child to become an independent learner. We believe every child should experience the joy of reading through rich, diverse and ambitious texts that broaden vocabulary, develop language and deepen understanding of the world.

We, therefore, intend to encourage all pupils to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop: knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live; to establish an appreciation and love of reading; to gain knowledge across the curriculum; and develop their comprehension skills. We are committed to providing vocabulary rich reading material and closely matched phonetically decodable books.

Implementation

• High quality systematic teaching of synthetic phonics has a high priority throughout Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily for 20-30 minutes, following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme, to all children in Foundation Stage, Year 1 and Year 2.
• Planning is based upon Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.  Lessons follow the revisit and review/teach/practise/apply format. Staff systematically teach learners blending and segmenting. There is fidelity to the programme.
• All staff receive regular Little Wandle training and coaching to ensure consistent delivery of the programme.
• Phonics is applied and reinforced throughout the day through targeted activities in Continuous Provision in Reception (either independently or through teacher led activities) and through application in all subjects in Years 1 and 2.
• As soon as children start in Reception they are introduced to books.  As a whole class children look at, share and talk about their books together.  This is continued throughout Reception during their weekly library sessions.  Individual reading books are introduced to children on a 1-1 basis with the teachers modelling the reading of the books.  Parents attend a Reading meeting in September where they are introduced to process of teaching reading and supporting early reading is modelled to them.  Children in Reception and Year 1 take home weekly phonics home learning which contain the phonemes taught for the week to practise at home.  This, along with reading, is set as daily home learning.
• Phase 2 activities are planned into continuous provision and targeted adult led keep-up sessions for those children who need to consolidate Phase 2. 
• In the spring term, following regular Little Wandle assessments, pupils in Reception are grouped according to the phase they are securely working within so teaching precisely matches their current phonic knowledge.. In Years 1 and 2 phonics is continued to be delivered in ability-groups.
• Children read each fully decodable book three times across the week to develop accuracy, automaticity, fluency and comprehension in line with Little Wandle guidance
• All children practise early reading with fully decodeable books.  Every child is assessed on a half termly basis.  Once children are reading fluently, confidently and with good comprehension (End of phase 5), they move on to the Little Wandle Fluency scheme.   
• Before starting the book the phonemes contained within the book are practised and children and teachers blend and segment the words.  The high frequency words within the book are introduced as well as any new vocabulary with its meaning being explained.
• Comprehension skills are taught from the very beginning of reading with teachers checking children’s understanding of class books as well as individual readers and children being encouraged to generate their own questions.  In Years 1 and 2 children take part in Book Talk lessons for each of their Talk For Writing Units. 
• All children in Year 1 and Year 2 take part in daily Reading Practice sessions. Once children have completed the Little Wandles Letters and Sounds revised programme, fluency is assessed on a termly basis and interventions put in place for those who need it. 
• Keep-up sessions are planned for those children who are working below expected levels as soon as needs are identified.  The key 20% of all readers in all year groups receive interventions three times a week either through additional phonics sessions or targeted reading sessions.
• All classrooms have their own class reading areas.
• Children experience high-quality daily story times where adults model fluent expressive reading and introduce ambitious vocabulary through carefully selected texts.
• Trumps Green Infant school celebrates reading throughout the year.  During our annual book week we visit our local library, with all members of staff share their favourite stories, we have author visits, perform poetry recitations, have drama workshops and celebrate our love of books.

Impact

Children leave Trumps Green as fluent, confident readers who enjoy reading for pleasure and are equipped to access the next stage of their education.

Pupils demonstrate:

• secure phonic knowledge
• increasing fluency, accuracy and prosody
• age-appropriate comprehension skills
• growing vocabulary
• confidence discussing books and authors
• positive attitudes towards reading.

Our assessment systems demonstrate:

• Assessment information demonstrates that pupils make strong progress from their starting points and that any child at risk of falling behind is identified quickly and receives immediate support.
• most pupils achieve the expected standard in the Phonics Screening Check
• Pupils who require additional support receive immediate Little Wandle keep-up sessions, enabling them to catch up quickly.
• disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND make good progress through targeted support.

Leaders regularly evaluate the quality of reading through lesson visits, coaching, pupil voice, book scrutiny, assessment analysis and moderation to ensure consistently high standards and continual improvement.