Reading

At Hetton Lyons Primary School, we believe that reading is the key to educational success. Through our vibrant reading culture and high-quality teaching, we aim to engender a love of reading and literature which will sow the seeds of success to last a lifetime.

Our Reading Journey through school ensures that every child is given the opportunity to develop the key skills they need to decode and to engage with a range of texts. We have a clear, consistent and whole school approach to reading. Competence in reading is the key to independent learning and is given the highest priority enabling children to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. We are passionate about making sure that every child leaves our school as a confident reader who is excited and inspired about books and reading.

Reading to decode

We use Little Wandle, which is a structured phonics programme designed to help all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for Reception to Year 2 children and is used, where necessary, as an intervention programme across the school.

Opportunities for Reading in School

At Hetton Lyons Primary School, we immerse children in high quality literature across the school. Pupils read regularly in all areas of the curriculum and we strive to develop children's love of reading through a range of opportunities:

Whole Class Text Study - English lessons are taught through a quality text which is strategically chosen to challenge children and to align closely with wider curriculum objectives. Across the academic year, texts in each year group have been chosen due to the rich language exploration and opportunities for vocabulary development they offer. Children will engage in 'hard thinking' in reading lessons which promote a deeper comprehension of the text before pausing the book study to embark on a sequence of work which results in a written outcome, linked to the text. Where appropriate, class texts are studied as model's for children's own narrative writing.
Whole Class Reading Lessons - Children in Years 2-6 enjoy whole class reading lessons during which they are immersed in the class text. These sessions provide further opportunity to read aloud, modelling reading with expression and intonation, as well as exploring plot, themes, vocabulary and inferred meaning in depth as a whole class. Rich tasks are planned for these sessions, through which children develop key reading comprehension competencies, focussing on retrieve; infer; vocabulary; predict; explain; retrieve; and summarise.
Reading Across the Curriculum - Pupils read a range of books linked to other areas of their learning. Within Key Stage Two, there is a focus on 'reading to learn' across foundation curriculum areas, with children engaging in wider research, both online and through carefully selected fiction and non-fiction texts.
Story Time - We know and understand that the simple act of reading a book to a child for pleasure is one of the most important things that a teacher can do. Every day in every class throughout school, time is dedicated to the enjoyment of sharing a book with the children purely for pleasure.

Our Reading Curriculum aims:

To develop a love of books and reading.
To develop reading strategies and skills: fluency, accuracy, understanding and response to different texts.
To read and enjoy a variety of texts from a variety of sources.
To create a strong, embedded reading culture through a rich language environment within classrooms and the wider school environment.
To deliver a structured and consistent whole school approach to reading.
To recognise the value of parents / carers as essential components in supporting and developing children’s reading skills and love of reading.
To rigorously monitor and assess children’s progress in reading and identify those who require extra support and intervene at an early stage.