At Drove, Reading and writing are integrally linked. Each unit of work is based around a high-quality text chosen from ‘Drove’s high-quality-text reading list’. All our texts are carefully chosen to reflect the diversity of our ever changing and modern world. They also allow for our school values to be taught in different contexts, giving our children the opportunity to understand different communities.
Our curriculum enables all children to acquire knowledge, develop their vocabulary and have the tools to communicate their ideas and learning effectively, both orally and in writing. Our learning journey within reading and writing is taught through the use our three phase approach. This consists of three weeks which includes three individual phases where the skills and knowledge are carefully sequenced in well thought out lessons. Both Fiction and Non-Fiction are covered each term.
Writing
Each term in writing, there must be one fiction and one non-fiction written outcome. In phase one & two, there will be up to four written outcomes. This includes previously taught skills and new skills. All skills are taken from year group ‘Integra skills lists’ and ‘The National Curriculum’.
To help demonstrate progress over a unit of work, children are asked to produce two independent pieces of writing per term – one non-fiction and one fiction. These tasks are called Assessment Markers and should take place at the end of phase three in the writing journey. The task set should enable the children to demonstrate the ranges of skills covered in that term. Over the course of the year, these Assessment Markers should show clear progress towards the Age-related Expectations for each year group.
Reading
At Drove, pupils are encouraged to become confident, enthusiastic, critical and independent readers. Phases are planned to ensure the children are immersed in active learning experiences which enables them to be motivated, curious and excited when accessing their high-quality text of the term.
We believe children should read for information, interest and enjoyment.
The Teaching of Reading at Drove
Pre-phase equips the children with the information and understanding they will need to access the high-quality text for the term (Story type e.g. legend, character type, country/setting, historical time period or event, value e.g. friendship and vocabulary e.g. word meaning). Pre-phase is before the book is shared with the children as we believe, this gives our children an equal starting point within their learning. In a Non-fiction pre-phase, subject knowledge, language and genre features needed for the sequence and end of phase write will be discussed and explored.
Phase 1 allows time to teach reading skills using our integra-based aims. This will all be based around the core text and any supplementary texts. Children will engage in active reading lessons during this phase, where our sequences are planned to offer real life and hands on experiences, creating a range of opportunities for all children to be immersed in and engaging with language.
During Phase 2, children are explicitly taught how to use a range of strategies effectively when answering comprehension questions. These are taught across the school through whole class reading – where teachers and children engage in a text and answer a range of comprehension questions. Teachers model explicitly the skills needed to answer these types of comprehension questions.
Reading for pleasure
We feel that the children at Drove should enjoy reading and have opportunities to read for pleasure. Book displays in corridors and classrooms promote reading for pleasure in class. Every day, time is devoted to reading for pleasure. This may be sharing a book with a friend, listening to a class book or reading a text of their choice.
Home Reading
Since September 2021, children in KS1 and KS2 have access to the online reading scheme through our systematic synthetic phonics programme ‘Rising Stars Rocket Phonics’. The scheme offers the children access to a range of fiction and non – fiction books and comprehension activities. We ask that children read at least 4 times a week at home. Hard copy reading books are available for all children upon request. Children in Year 5 & 6 have access to a class library with many age related high-quality texts. Reading prizes and certificates are used as incentives every 20 reads.