How We Prioritise Reading at St Monica's Catholic Primary School

"When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young." – Maya Angelou

Reading is at the heart of all we do here in St Monica's. We strongly believe that if we help develop a pupil who is not only fluent in reading but also has a love of reading, then we are creating a pupil who can thrive in life. 

To help achieve this, we have built strong a reading team to lead our reading culture across the school: including a Phonics lead (Mrs Evans), English Lead (Miss Quick) and Reading Lead (Mrs Gilbertson), Mr Gouldbourne (Headteacher) is also a key part of this team. This means we have can lead all aspects of reading for pupils from Nursery to Year 6, and expertise can be accessed at all stages of reading development.

Within St Monica's, we have built a language-rich environment where adults talk with children regularly throughout the day with the highest of oracy expectations, and where students are given opportunities to get involved in a variety of conversations. This boosts their vocabulary awareness, and supports children with their comprehension when reading. 

We have a clear strategy to keep reading at the heart of all we do here at St Monica's, with 10 key strands. These strands are as follows:

• Phonics in St Monica's Catholic Primary School - a Whole School Vision
• Story Sessions - The Power of Teachers Reading and Modelling Stories across the school
• Comprehension Lessons - Investigating pupil understanding through clear questioning
• Pupil Reads - our pledge to listen to pupils on a consistent basis and offer excellent feedback 
• Parent Partnership - Promoting the Power of Reading through working in Partnership with Parents
• Reading Progression for Pupils
• Reading at Home 
• Our Reading Environment
• Parent Partnership - Promoting the Power of Reading through working in Partnership with Parents
• Strategy and Leadership of Reading

Please read on to find out more about each of these strands:

1. Phonics in St Monica's Catholic Primary School

• We start phonics in Nursery, with the picture cards from Read, Write, Inc to introduce the picture cards and sounds from RWI. When ready, we move our Nursery children who are ready in to the full Read, Write, Inc scheme. This helps us create "School Ready" pupils, and helps with transition in to Reception. 
• We have timetabled daily Read Write Inc lessons from Nursery to Year 2 to ensure all of our pupils get the very best phonics teaching. All staff who deliver these sessions receive intensive CPD and weekly coaching to ensure each child 's individual needs are at the heart of our curriculum.
• All pupils are placed at a phonics level which is a direct response to appropriate, relevant and regular assessment. The texts a pupils takes home reflect this phonics level.
• Phonics does not end in Year 2. Any pupils who still need phonic intervention receive Read Write Inc sessions on a daily basis from Y3 onwards to ensure they make accelerated learning and can access the wider curriculum.
• We have adapted our daily timetable to accommodate the necessary support for our pupils who need this. Reading is prioritised for these children both through small group work, phonics intervention and daily reading groups.
• Fresh Start phonics programme is in place in Year 5 and 6 to ensure pupils who still need that intervention receive it before they leave us for Year 7.

2. Story Sessions - The Power of Teachers Reading and Modelling Stories to their pupils

• All classes are timetabled to ensure high quality texts are read to children in St Monica's, from Nursery to Year 6. These stories are carefully selected and sequenced to ensure a range of different voices and cultures are represented.
• In Nursery, we read a wide variety of stories at the end of each session. We deploy a member of staff in our Nursery Library to read to children at all times, and celebrate and stimulate the love of reading. Whilst we celebrate reading, we also discuss the five key concepts of print. Any writing the pupils the pupils produce is shared and celebrated in our Nursery Library. 
• Story Sessions Nursery to Year 2: Teachers read to our children every day in each lesson, and have a timetabled 'Story Session' read a selected text each day. Books are chosen so a range of texts are read to our children, for instance: Monday is Fiction; Tuesday is Non Fiction; Wednesday is Poetry, Thursday is Fiction and on Friday, pupils can choose by voting. Teachers will ask questions from the National Curriculum content domains so they can interweave oral comprehension in to these sessions:

A KS1 Story Session guide with questions

• Story Sessions in KS2: All classes have a class novel they study each half term. This novel links and enriches writing lessons and classes have bespoke lessons set aside to read the novel together each week. These lessons are sequenced and each lesson has a lesson slideshow to foreground concepts such as vocabulary, themes and discussion points. Comprehension questions link to our comprehension lessons and content domains in the National Curriculum drive understanding for pupils.

Our KS2 Story Session 'Home Slide'

Comprehension Lessons - Investigating pupil understanding through clear questioning

• Each class from Y2 - Y6 has comprehension lessons timetabled into their weekly timetable. 
• Questioning is also developed verbally during our Story Session lessons.

Pupil Reads - our pledge to listen to pupils on a consistent basis and offer excellent feedback 

• All pupils are listened to each week, with our bottom 20% of pupils listened to as daily readers.
• This is tracked on our Pupil Reads tracking sheets so teachers and teaching assistants can monitor and track progress.
• When pupils have moved on to library books, we look at the key areas of: Expression and Volume; Phrasing; Smoothness and Pace

Parent Partnership - Promoting the Power of Reading through working in Partnership with Parents

• The priority and importance of reading has been shared with parents through newsletters and our parent meetings
• In our Meet the Teacher meetings at the beginning of the year, novels are shared with parents and carers, and our vision and passion for reading is shared with all 
• Reading Corner in Newsletter is established to celebrate the power of reading in school
• Reading Records to share development between home and school are in place

A parent coffee morning, sharing phonics tips

Parent Partnership - What's in a Pupil's Book Bag?

What is in your child’s Book Bag? We’ve put together this handy guide to help you. We check Reading Records each Friday morning, if your child has read at least three times, they win a star on our “Reading Champions” chart.

Read, Write, Inc Phonics: What is in a pupil's Book Bag who is following our Read, Write, Inc scheme?

Read Write Inc - What books go home with a pupil?

• Book 1: Core Storybooks - to read to an adult
• This reflects the book your child is reading in school and gives them the chance to consolidate the sounds they are learning here in St Monica’s. A perfect way to work in partnership.
• Book 2: Book Bag Books - to read to an adult
• These books are aligned to the stage of “Read, Write, Inc” your child is on. These books give your child the chance to revise all the sounds they know with a fun story! Tip: Alternate between Book 1 and Book 2 each night.
• Book 3: Reading for Pleasure Book - to read alongside your child
• This is for you to read alongside your child. You just may challenge your child to decode a word or ask what a word means. This is perfect for “Book at Bedtime” - a time set aside with no digital devices for you both to share the love and magic of reading...
• We recommend alternating between Book 1 and 2 each night before reading a section of Book 3 together.

What happens after Read, Write, Inc?

Your child will move on to Library Books

Book 1 - Levelled Reading Book, to read to an adult

• This book is closely aligned to your child’s reading level and will progress as your child improves. Once your child is ready, they will become a ‘free reader’, they can choose any book they like from our library.

Book 2 - Reading for Pleasure Book, to read alone or alongside an adult

• This is to read alongside your child to extend and challenge. You may read chapters to your child, or take in turns to read a page each. Your child may want to read this book to you. This is perfect for “Book at Bedtime” - a time set aside with no digital devices for you both to share the love and magic of reading...
• We recommend listening to your child read Book 1 each night, then sharing a selection of Book 2

A pupil reading at home

Our Reading Environment 

Our Amazing Library

• We are very proud of our beautiful library, which is a fantastic environment for children to enjoy reading and come and select from thousands of books. Each class has a timetabled slot to come to the library each week, both to change books and also enjoy a 'Story Session'. Our pupils love this space!
• Reading Record Charts are on display in each class - this records how often a pupil reads at home. Reading Champions check reading records each week so they can add the stars - we find this really helps with motivating reading at home. 
• There are a variety of intervention groups, strategies and targeting is in place to give those pupils who struggle with reading the very best opportunity of ‘catching up’ with their peers.
• When you walk through our school, you will see clearly how reading is prioritised through reading displays and areas in all classrooms, communal areas and carefully selected books available for all of our children. On each door, you will see the novel the class is reading at the time in their Story Session.

Strategy and Leadership of Reading within St Monica's

• A termly detailed Headteacher report is shared with governors and reading is a focus for discussion in each Full Governors Meeting.
• Reading Champions celebrate the success of those avid readers. Reading Champions build links with KS1 with Y6 having the opportunity to read with Y2 on a weekly basis
• Staff meeting time has been dedicated to the teaching of reading, as have INSET days.
• Teachers and Teaching Assistants listen to all pupils read each week; with the lowest 20% listened to daily.
• Reading events are held throughout the year (e.g. World Book Day) and enrichment experiences are provided to all children (Bootle Literary Festival author visit).