Our Reading Curriculum Intent

At Rosewood, we are a reading school. We have an ethos that encourages all children to be readers and promotes a love of reading for pleasure, alongside a coherent and strategic reading curriculum. We believe that the teaching and learning of reading is integral for children to access the whole curriculum. Our reading curriculum aims to support children in learning appropriate skills to decode, develop fluency and to comprehend what they have read. We do this through exposure to and engagement with high-quality texts in all areas of the curriculum. Vocabulary acquisition is a key priority; this is a thread that runs through all curriculum areas. Children are exposed to high-level vocabulary across all areas of the curriculum and strategies area used to support children in developing and applying a broad vocabulary. 

Rosewood Reading Policy

What does reading look like at Rosewood?

The teaching of reading in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

As a school we follow the Read Write Inc. phonics programme which is delivered every day within small streamed groups.

The programme is for:

• Pupils in Nursery (from Summer term), Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who are learning to read and write

• Any pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 who need further support with their phonics.

Our RWInc programme equips children with the skills to;

• Decode letter sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
• Read common exception words by sight
• Understand what they read
• Read aloud with fluency and expression
• Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
• Acquire good handwriting, forming all letters correctly.

The children are grouped according to their reading ability and are assessed every half term so that groups always reflect the children’s current reading ability and progress can be tracked carefully.

In the Foundation Stage we emphasise the alphabetic code (Set 1 sounds). The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them.  In Key Stage 1, the focus is on Set 2 and 3 sounds encouraging children to segment and blend and become more fluent readers.

This learning is consolidated daily. Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings.

Children in Key Stage One have daily English lessons alongside phonics lessons, in which they are exposed to high-quality, engaging texts in all units of work, selected from the Lancashire planning guidance. The reading phase of each unit is clearly evidence in English books.

The teaching of reading in Key Stage 2 and for those children who have completed the Read Write Inc programme

Reading is embedded within our English curriculum.  Throughout Key Stage 2 children build on the good reading habits and reading fluency established at Key Stage 1.  The teaching of reading is addressed, partly, through English lessons.  A range of high quality texts are selected within each English unit chosen from the Lancashire planning guidance. The initial week of any unit taught is focused primarily on the reading phase, which is evidenced in English books. 

Guided Reading

Year 1

Guided reading in Year 1 is taught from a scheme created by RWInc which is closely matched to children’s phonics learning and builds upon skills developed through RWInc lessons. Children will read specific texts which have been carefully selected to support the development of reading comprehension skills and build on phonics learning. Through these texts they will develop appropriate comprehension skills in Year 1 to support them in accessing our guided reading programme from Years 2 – 6.

Years 2 - 6

Guided reading follows a 5 day programme:

1. Vocabulary focus
2. Reading focus
3. Comprehension and understanding
4. Self-assessment
5. Written outcome – related to the text.

Staff use age-appropriate texts to ensure that children make good or accelerated progress.  All classrooms have a guided reading display focused on the vocabulary linked to the focus text that week.

Work completed is to be recorded in guided reading workbooks and to be lightly marked by staff.

During assessment weeks, guided reading is not implemented.  Instead, staff are to listen to all children to ensure that children are accessing age-appropriate books.

How do we promote a love of reading?

At Rosewood, we have lots of activities and events throughout the year which create and promote our ethos of 'we are a reading school'.

World Book Day 2023 saw the launch of our brand new book vending machine and what a hit it has been! Children earn golden coins for improvement in reading or showing particular enthusiasm in reading. Each class has 3 golden coins to earn every other week (in their assembly week) and the winners take their coin to the vending machine with Mrs Jefcoate on Friday afternoon to release their chosen book. It is very exciting and children love to earn the golden coins! 

Our annual 'Snuggle Up With A Book' event with storyteller, Rogan Mills.   This is always a huge success and often a highlight of the year for many children and adults alike.

We maintain close links with Coal Clough Library, our local library. Each class visit the library for an afternoon throughout the year and take part in a reading workshop. We encourage children to become a member of the library and get their own library card - many children also visit the library outside of school time too. 

At the beginning of December, a special visitor leaves all classes a sack full of books wrapped up, to be opened on each day of December. We have a book advent in which children open books throughout advent to share with the class. This always proves exciting and promotes discussion and enthusiasm around a variety of texts that children might not necessarily choose themselves.

Throughout the year we have a range of visitors in school to deliver reading workshops and assemblies to children to broaden their experiences and promote a love for reading. Children have the opportunity to meet and work with storytellers, actors, poets and more. 

World Book Day is always a fantastic celebration at Rosewood! Children and adults come to school dressed as their favourite character, teachers plan exciting and engaging activities that are delivered across phases, giving children the opportunity to work with and share stories with other adults, children join other classes to share stories across key stages and we always have an excellent day of celebrating the joy of books and reading. A firm favourite in the calendar for many. 

How can you support your child with reading at home?

• Ensure your child reads every day for at least 10 minutes and record their reading in their Reading Record.
• Talk about what books they are currently reading.
• Ask questions when listening to your child read aloud (please see below for helpful resources on questions to ask your child when reading).
• Read books to your child / read books together.
• Visit local libraries with your child and encourage them to become a member of your local library.

Here are two videos by Nicola Martin, Senior English and Literacy Consultant from the Lancashire Professional Development Service which demonstrate ideas to use at home to further support your child with vocabulary acquisition and development.

Vocabulary Room Challenge

Jump on a word

Useful resources