Nafferton Primary School

English at Nafferton 

From Miss Whelan, subject lead:

At Nafferton, English lies at the heart of our curriculum and is embedded throughout. From the moment children begin their Nafferton Journey, we endeavour to cultivate a passion and lifelong love of reading through a thematic approach. Through this, children gain an extensive and rich vocabulary, essential reading skills and the motivation to read for study and pleasure. We recognise that each child has their own starting point on entry to every year group and progress is measured in line with these starting points to ensure that every child can celebrate success. We ensure that each child develops their knowledge of spoken English and provide opportunities for children to consolidate taught English skills. By the time children end their Nafferton Journey, they have acquired the fundamental skills of reading within their ability range.

Phonics and Reading

At Nafferton, English lies at the heart of our curriculum and is embedded throughout. From the moment children begin their Nafferton Journey, we endeavour to cultivate a passion and lifelong love of reading through a thematic approach. Through this, children gain an extensive and rich vocabulary, essential reading skills and the motivation to read for study and pleasure. We recognise that each child has their own starting point on entry to every year group and progress is measured in line with these starting points to ensure that every child can celebrate success. We ensure that each child develops their knowledge of spoken English and provide opportunities for children to consolidate taught English skills. By the time children end their Nafferton Journey, they have acquired the fundamental skills of reading within their ability range.

How is phonics and early reading taught in Foundation and Key Stage One?

At Nafferton, children are taught to read using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. All children in Foundation and Year 1 receive daily phonics sessions. Alongside this, children receive keep-up sessions if necessary to ensure the best possible start and progress in reading journey. When children reach Year 2, they transition onto the Year 2 Little Wandle Spelling Programme which consists of a five week review of Year 1 phonics before progressing onto the teaching of spelling and reading fluency. We recognise that not all children develop their reading skills at the same rate and if needed, phonics is continued into Year 2 and Key Stage Two using the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-Up Programme or the Little Wandle SEND Graduated Approach Programme.

Daily Phonics Lessons:

• We teach phonics for 30 minutes a day. In Foundation, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers
• Children make a strong start in Foundation: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term
• When learning Phase 2 and 3 phonemes, children learn four sounds per week
• We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression:
• Foundation: children are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy
• Year 1: children review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy. As they progress through the programme, they begin to ‘grow the code’ and by the end of Year 1, children will have been taught the entire alphabetic code

Daily Keep-Up Lessons:

• Daily keep-up lessons play a vital role in ensuring that every child learns to read
• Any child who needs additional practice has daily keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning
• Keep-up lessons cover a variety of skills: learning to segment and blend, reinforcing taught GPCs (grapheme-phoneme correspondences), identifying initial sounds, developing fluency
• We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the keep-up resources or the Rapid Catch Up Scheme; this is done at pace

Teaching Reading:

• We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week
• Reading sessions;
• are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children
• use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using assessments and book matching grids
• are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis
• Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
• decoding: learning to read the text
• prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
• comprehension: teaching children to understand the text
• Children’s reading records will be stamped every time they complete a reading practice session and once a week a comment will be written by an adult to ensure home-school communication
• In Foundation, reading sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books

Home reading

• Every week a decodable reading practice book is brought home to be shared with Parents/Carers
• Children use our school library to bring home a reading for pleasure book
• When in Foundation, children take home a sound bag. This used for:
• Practising taught phonemes as flashcards
• Develop segmenting and blending skills
• Every child in Foundation and Year 1 brings home a ‘Little Wandle Home Learning Book.’ This resource provides parents with an insight about what their child has been learning that week

Transitioning into Year 2:

When children enter Year 2 they continue to follow Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.

Little Wandle in Year 2:

• Children begin the Little Wandle Spelling Programme. This allows them to revise the alphabetic code and covers the national curriculum spelling rules. The progression of the programme is as follows:
• Autumn 1: 5 weeks Phase 5 revision to secure the knowledge which was taught in Year 1
• Autumn 2: 5 weeks ‘bridge to spelling’ coverage
• Spring 1 – Summer 2: Year 2 National Curriculum spelling rule coverage

What does reading look like in Year 2 and Key Stage Two?

Big Cat Collins Home-School Reading Books:

Once children are reading fluently, they transition onto the Big Cat Collins reading books. The reading scheme provides a balance of fiction and non-fiction and addresses a range of themes:

• Challenge gender stereotypes
• Address different cultural backgrounds through celebrating their traditions and traditional tales
• Range of family structures
• Real life experiences
• An insight into careers
• A wide range of history, geography and science topics are covered
• Stories from a range of ethnic and social backgrounds
• Books that highlight a range of cultures and experiences from around the world
• Classic texts and stories
• Plays
• Poetry

Big Cat Collins Reading Scheme Progression:

 HARVEST Readers:

As children enter Year 5 and Year 6 and are reading with fluency, strong comprehension and prosody, they start reading from our HARVEST Readers scheme. We have a Harvest Library within the Year 5/6 teaching area which is packed with books that have been selected to stretch and fascinate the children. The books are organised by genre and each child is encouraged to read a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction. When choosing a book they have a discussion with a member of staff to help curate a unique reading experience for them – this will include recommending books or asking another child to recommend a book they have read.

Becoming a Harvest Reader is a celebration of a child’s reading progress and with that comes an increased expectation from them. Harvest Readers record five home reading sessions each week. Each page of their reading record represents a single week of reading. A new page is started each week. The children are responsible for recording five sessions over the week in the top five boxes in their reading record. A reading session could be reading independently, reading aloud to an adult or having a discussion about what they have read. The bottom box is for the parent/carer to comment on their reading week and provide any feedback they feel will help develop the child’s reading. Parents/carers only need to comment once a week, the focus being on the children recording their own reading.

Guided Reading in Key Stage Two:

The priorities for guided reading in Key Stage Two are:

1. To enthuse children with a wonder of reading
2. To provide the skills that children need for a lifelong love of reading
3. To develop reading speed and deepen their understanding of what they are reading

All children undertake a reading activity each day and on one day a week they have a focused guided session. Guided reading at Nafferton School follows the following structure:

Monday - First Read (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to read the text without any other demands and begin to understand it. The children do this independently. It is not expected that all children will have a good understanding of the text on this first read through but they should get the gist. When the text has been read, children write at least three words or phrases that they did not understand or were unsure of. These are recorded on Post-it notes for later group work.

Tuesday – Read & Discuss (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to discuss the text and to re-read sections of it more closely to understand it better. The children are given a focus question or statement which requires them taking a closer reading. This is generally paired work. The focus of this session is to deepen understanding of the text through collaboration with others.

Wednesday – Questions (15 minutes): 

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to interrogate the text to answer specific questions. This will involve skimming and scanning the text for key words and retrieving information. Again this is generally paired work to encourage discussion of the text.

Thursday – Written Response (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to consolidate their learning about the chapter/extract they have read and express their response in a creative way. This could be writing a diary extract from a character or imagining how a character might act in a different situation.

Friday – Additional Reading (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to improve reading speed and stamina. The children read additional chapters or text extracts.

Once a week - Guided Reading (30-40mins)

The purpose of this longer session is to provide explicit teaching and support in the reading of increasingly challenging texts. The children complete this session in small groups.The session has two distinct parts: vocabulary building and a specific reading focus.

Vocabulary building. The children return to the notes they made on Monday. Children locate the word/phrases they wrote down in the text. They use context to establish its word class and work out its possible meaning.  The children have an opportunity to try out the word and are provided with several examples on how it could be used. The word class and definition is recorded in their books next to their Post-it note. Three or four new words are covered each session.

Specific teaching focus. This is an opportunity for the children to learn a reading skill. For example: how to infer a character’s feelings and motives, how to effectively skim a text for important information, or how to summarise a text. These sessions are interactive and lively.

How are children supported who find reading challenging?

Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up Programme:

To support children who find reading challenging, the Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up Programme is used. This covers Phase 2 – Phase 5 at pace and builds fluency to ensure that children are able to read at their age related expectation. The books which are used, phonically decodable and age appropriate. The programme consists of three phonics lessons per week and three reading sessions per week.

Little Wandle SEND Programme:

Children who require a graduated approach to phonics follow the Little Wandle SEND Programme. This programme ensures full coverage of Phase 2 – Phase 5 phonics but is delivered at a slower pace using supported methods.

Guided Reading in Key Stage Two

The priorities for guided reading in Key Stage Two are:

1. To enthuse children with a wonder of reading
2. To provide the skills that children need for a lifelong love of reading
3. To develop reading speed and deepen their understanding of what they are reading 

All children undertake a reading activity each day and on one day a week they have a focused guided session. Guided reading at Nafferton School follows the following structure:

Monday - First Read (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to read the text without any other demands and begin to understand it. The children do this independently. It is not expected that all children will have a good understanding of the text on this first read through but they should get the gist. When the text has been read, children write at least three words or phrases that they did not understand or were unsure of. These are recorded on Post-it notes for later group work.

Tuesday – Read & Discuss (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to discuss the text and to re-read sections of it more closely to understand it better. The children are given a focus question or statement which requires them taking a closer reading. This is generally paired work. The focus of this session is to deepen understanding of the text through collaboration with others.

Wednesday – Questions (15 minutes): 

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to interrogate the text to answer specific questions. This will involve skimming and scanning the text for key words and retrieving information. Again this is generally paired work to encourage discussion of the text.

Thursday – Written Response (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to allow the children to consolidate their learning about the chapter/extract they have read and express their response in a creative way. This could be writing a diary extract from a character or imagining how a character might act in a different situation.

Friday – Additional Reading (15 minutes):

The purpose of this session is to improve reading speed and stamina. The children read additional chapters or text extracts.

Once a week - Guided Reading (30-40mins)

The purpose of this longer session is to provide explicit teaching and support in the reading of increasingly challenging texts. The children complete this session in small groups. The session has two distinct parts: vocabulary building and a specific reading focus.

Vocabulary building. The children return to the notes they made on Monday. Children locate the word/phrases they wrote down in the text. They use context to establish its word class and work out its possible meaning.  The children have an opportunity to try out the word and are provided with several examples on how it could be used. The word class and definition is recorded in their books next to their Post-it note. Three or four new words are covered each session.

Specific teaching focus. This is an opportunity for the children to learn a reading skill. For example: how to infer a character’s feelings and motives, how to effectively skim a text for important information, or how to summarise a text. These sessions are interactive and lively.

Harvest Readers - Reading in Years 5&6

At the start of Year 5, the majority of children in the school will become Harvest Readers.

We have a Harvest Library within the Year 5/6 teaching area which is packed with books that have been selected to stretch and fascinate the children. The books are organised by genre and each child is encouraged to read a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction. When choosing a book they have a discussion with a member of staff to help curate a unique reading experience for them – this will include recommending books or asking another child to recommend a book they have read.

Becoming a Harvest Reader is a celebration of a child’s reading progress and with that comes an increased expectation from them. Harvest Readers record five home reading sessions each week. Each page of their reading record represents a single week of reading. A new page is started each week. The children are responsible for recording five sessions over the week in the top five boxes in their reading record. A reading session could be reading independently, reading aloud to an adult or having a discussion about what they have read. The bottom box is for the parent/carer to comment on their reading week and provide any feedback they feel will help develop the child’s reading. Parents/carers only need to comment once a week, the focus being on the children recording their own reading.