Reading

It is our aim that every pupil leaves Fircroft as a fluent, confident and passionate reader. Our strong reading culture across the school provides all children with the skills and enthusiasm to become lifelong readers. Reading is embedded throughout the curriculum at Fircroft as well as being taught explicitly across the school.

How do we teach phonics and Early Reading (Early Years and KS1)?

At Fircroft we use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons. In phonics, we teach children that the letters of the alphabet represent a different sound, that these can be used in a variety of combinations and are put together to make words. The children learn to recognise all of the different sounds and combinations that they might see when they are reading or writing. Our phonics teaching starts in Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. We also model these strategies in shared reading and writing both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on the development of language skills for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

In the Nursery, children follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised ‘Foundations for Phonics’ guidance. The focus is on daily oral blending and language development through high quality stories and rhymes.
In Reception and Year 1, children follow the progression within the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily and there is a review session on a Friday.
Phonics starts in Reception in week 2 to ensure the children make a strong start.
By the end of Reception, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 4.
By the end of Year 1, children will have been taught up to the end of phase 5.
Children in Year 2 recap any gaps in their phonics knowledge in the autumn term.
Reception lessons start at 15 minutes, with daily additional oral blending – increasing quickly to 30 minutes.
Year 1 lessons are 30 minutes long.

Reading practice sessions

Children across Reception, Year 1, Year 2 (and beyond if appropriate) apply their phonics knowledge by using a matched decodable reader in a small group reading practice session.
These sessions are 15 minutes long and happen three times a week. There are approximately 6 children in a group.
The sessions follow the model set out in Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
The children then take the same book home the following week to ensure success is shared with the family.
In Reception these sessions start in week 4. Children who are not yet blending take a wordless book home.

How do we assess phonic knowledge?

In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 at the end of each week there is a review session which recaps the learning. There are also whole review weeks (pre-planned and bespoke review weeks to address gaps identified by the class teacher’s ongoing formative assessment).
Children identified in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 as in danger of falling behind are immediately identified and daily ‘keep up’ sessions are put in place – these sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
In Reception and Year 1, the children are assessed at the end of every half term using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker.
Children in Year 1 complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check in the summer term.
Children who do not meet standard in the Phonics Screening Check in Year 1, will complete this in Year 2. Support continues to be put in place for these children.
If you are a parent and would like more information about how to support your child with phonics at home, please follow the link below to find the Reception and Year 1 overview as well as videos of the sound pronunciations, letter formation sheets and other helpful resources.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

We teach reading comprehension through regular reading lessons. Each half term, children will read and analyse a fiction, a non-fiction or a poetry text. Reading lessons include:

An element of prosody (reading with feeling and intonation).
A close look at key vocabulary that children may be unfamiliar with.
Focussing on the key skills of retrieval, inference, prediction, summarising
Making links and comparisons with other known texts.
Modelled answering of questions.
Opportunities to apply the day's reading skills independently.
A weekly reading for pleasure session.
Teaching fluency by model reading, echo reading, choral reading and paired reading.

In addition to our reading lessons in KS2, we also provide children with:

Opportunities to read for pleasure.
Daily rapid catch up for children in Years 3-6 (for any child who is not a fluent reader)
Regular storytimes.
Weekly visits to our school library.
Regular, open ended discussions about stories and books.
Opportunities to read and discuss a wide read of genres including poetry and non-fiction (including weekly newspapers to ensure children are aware of local, national and global issues).

In addition, 1:1 reading is put in place for children that need extra practice. Books that the children take home are carefully chosen to match the children’s interests and their level of fluency.

Fircroft is proud to take part in the Spark! Book Awards. Visit their website for more information.

How do we develop Reading for Pleasure?

Alongside daily teaching of phonics, reading for pleasure is an important part of our Early Reading offer. We ensure children develop a love of reading and are exposed to a range of interesting and relevant authors. We promote a love of reading in the following ways:

Daily storytimes in Early Years and KS1 and at least 3 times a week in KS2.
Reading Ambassadors who promote a love of reading within their classes and across the school, including recommending books
Whole-school, weekly ‘We Love Reading’ sessions which encourage informal book talk
Whole class reading sessions which include a range of books that are mapped out to ensure children have a rich reading diet with vocabulary explicitly taught
Inviting book areas within the classroom with a range of reading material
Weekly visits by each class from Nursery-Year 6 to our school library
Regular visits to Tooting and Balham Libraries where children choose books to borrow and are read to by the Children’s Librarian.
Alongside children’s decodable reading book, children also take home a reading for pleasure book each week. In each year group, children will take home a range of book by authors, including some which they have read in class.
Participation in local reading competitions including the library summer reading challenge.
Book fairs - children are timetabled in for browsing sessions.
Reading buddies - teaming up older and younger classes to share favourite books together.
Teacher swap - where teachers read stories to different classes
Family reading afternoons
Celebrations for World Book Week including family reading sessions, competitions and lots of amazing costumes!
Visits by authors, poets and illustrators throughout the year

Books that the children take home are carefully chosen to match the children's interests and their level of fluency.