Compton C.E. Primary School

At Compton C of E Primary we aim for our children to be life-long independent motivated readers, by the time they leave us they are able to:

• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
•  Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
•  Having acquired a wide vocabulary, which has been both actively and systematically built on during their time at our school.
• Make links between known and new vocabulary and discuss the shades of meaning in similar words.
• Understand the meaning of words they meet in their reading across all subjects.
• Show an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions.
•  Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.
• Use discussion in order to learn; being able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas.

• Building on the strong foundations of RWI phonics programme, from the end of yr2 we use Jane Considine’s Hooked on Books pedagogy; a whole class comprehension and a targeted group approach.
• We use this approach to reading because of its focus on the richness in talk, depth of thinking and strategies that build confidence.
• During our reading sessions, the children engage in a vocabulary rich timetable which nurtures their love of reading.
• In book talk children discuss texts they are reading through different lenses of the reading rainbow-a fully comprehensive approach that targets reading competencies, covering the National Curriculum and develops their understanding.
•  Key aspects of the programme also include; ‘Demonstration Reading’ – the art of modelling the internal thinking of a reader, to demonstrate how a reader thinks during the process of ‘reading for meaning’. ‘Demonstration Comprehension’ – clear, out loud thinking by the teacher whilst modelling answers to questions and showcasing ‘thesaurus thinking’ to ensure the most precise words are used.
• We individualise/target higher order questioning for pupils, particularly to support our lowest 20%.
• We ensure children meet texts at their level in reading and being questioned to develop from their starting points and helping to ensure they meet the demands of the national curriculum.
• In addition to the ‘Hooked on Books’ and RWI phonics children are encouraged to read their own texts for reading for pleasure ,our active class libraries are at the heart of this. This is  where children are exposed to a carefully selected range of books and genres of both classic , modern and diverse authors.
• Our children are given opportunities to read to their peers across the school, read aloud to the class, or individually.
•  Reading is at the heart of  our writing, our writing medium term plans have reading to aid the writing as a key part,  the writing is based on a quality reading spine, we use whole class reading in English session to help children immerse themselves to the text type and purpose.     

• Pupils are learning to decode and encode quickly and successfully thereby providing a firm foundation for further learning.
• From yr2 our children build on their successes from EYFS and yr1 with a secure phonics knowledge to ensure they are fluent readers with a good basis of comprehension by the end of Key Stage 1.  This means children have met the demands of the reading national curriculum and enables them to be ready to take on the demands of the key stage 2 reading curriculum.
•  A tracker based on National Curriculum objectives is used to inform teachers and leaders of the skills and knowledge the pupils have achieved or need to improve further. School improvement leaders closely monitor all pupil’s and hold individual termly meetings with all teachers to assess every individual child’s learning needs and progress.