Intent

When our children leave Bromet Primary School, we expect them to be avid readers, children who read fluently and widely and can express preferences and opinions about the texts that they read. We want them to read for pleasure, having had access to a wide range of text types, genres, and authors for them to make informed opinions about their favourites. We want to produce children who write with confidence and accuracy for various purposes and audiences, whilst developing their own individual flair. Likewise, we want our children to be able to write with grammatical accuracy and be able to apply spelling patterns correctly using a neat handwriting style. Furthermore, we aim to expose our children to a wide range of vocabulary so that they can decipher new words and then use them when speaking both informally and formally.

We also aim for our children to apply all of these English skills to all areas of the curriculum.

Implementation

All National Curriculum requirements are embedded, making the grammar purposeful and there are always a mixture of shorter, longer and extended writing outcomes where the audience and purpose is clear and exciting for children.

Children also have regular whole class reading lessons, this is a mixture of whole class books for upper Key Stage 2 and smaller groups reading texts that are pitched at appropriate levels for younger children. Reading fluency is incorporated in whole class and small group interventions to support reading development.

Impact

At the end of each year, we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved Greater Depth (GD). Children who have gaps in their knowledge receive appropriate support and intervention. Children at Key Stage 2 will do a mixture of previous SATs papers or National Style Standardised Assessments to help inform the teacher’s judgements on a termly basis.

How We Teach Reading at Bromet Primary School

Learning to read is one of the most important things your child will learn at our school therefore we believe in developing a reading culture throughout the school. We want your child to love reading and to want to read for themselves, this is why we work hard to develop a love of books as well as learning to read.

At Bromet children learn phonics through Monster Phonics, which is a DFE listed scheme. As children in Reception start to learn sounds they will start to take phonic reading books home to practise and develop their fluency. 

Teachers regularly read to children, so children get to know and love all sorts of stories, poems and information books. This helps to extend children’s vocabulary and comprehension, as well as supporting their writing.

Children read from a variety of schemes which have been banded according to reading ability. Reception children will start with books matched to Monster Phonics and them progress through the book bands. Our banded reading books start at Pink and end at Topaz, children will then chose books from their class library. These books have been chosen to challenge readers and are linked to the recommended reading lists we have for each year group.

Reading books are changed twice a week and we would like your child to bring their book bag into school each day so that children are reading at home and school, reading a book more than once develops reading fluency and comprehension. Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy and expression. We ask you to sign and comment in your child’s reading record. Children who have read three times a week will be recognised as ‘Star Readers’ on our weekly newsletter.

Guided reading happens daily and this is where teachers choose texts that are slightly more challenging for children to develop word recognition, vocabulary and comprehension.

Throughout EYFS and KS1 we have a reading morning once a week where parents and carers and invited into school to share a book with children. At Bromet we also encourage reading for pleasure through whole school initiatives and competitions. This may include celebrating World Book Day and cross school collaboration with Agora Partnership Schools.

Curricular Adaptability: Nurturing Progression in Mixed-Age Classes

We cater for mixed age groupings through a dynamic curriculum framework, ensuring a diverse range of texts engages every child annually. Our meticulous approach integrates grammar within each class, ensuring a seamless progression and comprehensive review of acquired knowledge.