Growing a culture of reading from an early age
At APSoL we endeavour to foster pupil’s life long love of reading.
We will facilitate this through the sharing of a wide range of children’s literature, which is both read to and by the children. We have a well-stocked school library, which will be available for children to use in 2021 once phase 2 of the development is completed. Each classroom will have an inviting reading corner stocked with a range of books to captivate children. We will actively promote wider reading and for children to visit local libraries. Once the school is open, we aim to foster a link with Wandsworth Library, and regularly take the children on class visits to the library to promote such a valuable resource. In addition, we will provide opportunities for children to meet authors (from a range of Anglo and Lusophone backgrounds), so that they can be inspired to read and grow a love for reading.
Teaching of Early Reading
Basic reading skills will be taught through daily systematic Phonics teaching, following the Read Write Inc Phonics programme.
Phonics will be taught in Reception and Year 1, daily. Children are grouped according to their phonics level.
Accompanying this we will use the Oxford Reading Tree phonic readers. Supporting early readers through decodable books, these schemes introduce phonic concepts sequentially in a structured way, promoting blending as the principal strategy in learning to read. The books are designed to help children experience enthusiasm and success in the early stages of learning to read, building up confidence from the very beginning. Each level introduces new sounds and includes previous sounds so that readers build on previous knowledge making these books excellent for reinforcement and consolidation of learning. Oxford Owl book bands. Children will begin to read in Portuguese, once their phonics reading is secure in English.
KS2 Reading
In Key Stage 2, a variety of methods are used to encourage and develop a love for reading.
In KS2, reading will be taught through exposure to high quality class texts that have been selected to enrich the termly topic. Teachers will plan whole class guided reading to unpick these texts and support the children collectively with their word reading and comprehension skills.
A variety of texts will be used to match the needs of the children and promote the cross curricular learning style at APSoL. Teachers will primarily encourage reading for meaning. Attention will be drawn towards extending their vocabulary and looking at how writers use sentence structure and punctuation to bring a text to life. Children will be regularly questioned to gauge their understanding of the different texts in which they encounter. They will be given various opportunities to both read independently and as part of a group during comprehension based tasks.
All children will be encouraged to and be given the opportunities to;
- Use strategies to summarise and develop an overview of the selected text.
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic
conventions for reading, writing and spoken language - appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a
range of contexts, purposes and audiences - use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly
their understanding and ideas - are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations,
demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
Home reading
All children will be expected to read at home, daily. From Reception, children will take a home-reader that is pitched at their phonics level in order to support their fluency, but will also be able to take another story book of their choice to develop a love for reading. Children will also have the opportunity to take Portuguese books home to read with their families.