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Hindhayes Infant School

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English Reading

Intent - Reading at Hindhayes

The school is determined that every pupil will learn to read and make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations. Through using high quality texts across subjects, we want pupils to be able to understand more about the world in which they live. We want children to read for pleasure, having had access to a wide range of text types, genres and authors in order for them to make informed opinions of their favourites.

Recent research used to inform practice:

Bold Beginnings 2017 : Key findings in the most successful schools. EEF Improving Literacy at Key Stage 1. Closing the attainment gap – Daniel Sobel 2018.  Learning without Labels – Marc Rowland 2017 , Closing the Vocabulary Gap – Alex Quiggley 2018.  The curriculum – Mary Myatt 2018, Closing the reading Gap – Alex Quigley 2020, National College Webinar Developing Reading in line with EYFS reforms - 2021

Developing a life-long love of reading:

Phonics is at the heart of word reading at Hindhayes School. In 2016 the school chose to develop phonics teaching by committing to the teaching programme Sounds-Write. Every teacher and teaching assistant was provided with four days of high quality professional development delivered by a Sounds-Write trainer. The school is rigorous in its approach to teaching phonics and understands the significance of developing decoding skills quickly in the journey to becoming a competent and keen reader. Under the trees with a veranda, bean bags and reading nooks sits our school library which the children borrow books from on a weekly basis. Children are encouraged to choose books that interest them from non-fiction to traditional tales, well loved classics and poems and rhymes. Local links with the library are strong with the English lead volunteering through the summer to promote the reading challenge. Tea, toast and reading daily before school, provides children with the opportunity to share a new or well-loved classic story with an adult or to read from their decodable reader .Story time online promoted through the schools Facebook page encourages children to listen to stories retold by the English lead and her family. Vulnerable children are part of the book shelf project through the year to enable them to stock their own book shelf with 18 books by the time they leave school. Story time is well established across the school with children in reception listening to up to and beyond three stories most days and older children enjoying longer reads through chapter books as well as returning to well-loved classics. Books are chosen for enjoyment and to help develop vocabulary and comprehension skills in children. Bedtime stories, dressing up days, poem of the week and Wow box days all encourage children to remember that books are to be enjoyed and to develop a life-long love of reading. Interventions provide extra and targeted practice for those children who make the slowest progress (the lowest 20%). These children are carefully tracked by the intervention team through all year groups to diminish differences.

Developing Cultural Capital

Baseline  information collected shows that many of the children have poor vocabulary skills, have not heard many nursery rhymes, have poor letter sounds knowledge alongside a lack of oral segmenting and blending skills requires the school to act quickly to provide the children with a reading and language rich environment both inside and out. Visiting story tellers and poets, visits to the local library and story links to library events, access to high quality books in the school library, book themed weeks and dressing up, bedtime stories and stories in the forest, provision of first hand experiences to support vocabulary development and early intervention all support our learners to diminish any differences identified in entry . An outdoor play worker daily in the rich outdoor area helps to provide a running commentary of activities, sets up opportunities for play that are rich in language and ensures that links are made to stories and a welcoming reading area is available.