Reading
At St. Edmund’s our aim is for every child to leave school as a fluent, confident reader, not only because reading is a valuable skill in its own right, but also because it is crucial to allow them to access the breadth of the curriculum as increasingly independent learners.
As primary educators, we hope that some of our pupils will be inspired to study English Literature at university, and our curriculum provides the first steps on this learning journey with an initial focus on decoding text, but moving on to analyse structure, themes and the author’s intent in Key Stage 2.
For those children whose academic journeys take them in other directions, reading is still key to their development. It is through their reading of quality texts that children are able to absorb that knowledge valued by society, known as cultural capital. In order to participate fully in society, children will need to be able to read critically.
Finally, for many children reading is a source of great pleasure which will remain with them into adulthood.
Because we believe reading is so important, it is central to our Homework Policy and your child will be expected to read a school book at home every day. You can find our Homework Policy on the Policies Page of this website.
While children are working on our Phonics Programme, they are given decodable books to practise on at home. These books will not contain any sounds or common words that the children have not been taught at school. Once children have completed the phonics programme, they will still be expected to read every day for homework, and each classroom is stocked with a wide range of challenging but engaging books for that purpose.
n Year 2 and above, once most children are confident to work out what the words on the page say, the focus shifts to comprehension. We teach reading through whole-class lessons, following the ‘Hooked on Books’ reading scheme by Jane Considine. This scheme uses extracts from high quality and engaging texts to pique children’s interest and teaches them to read for meaning following a series of carefully structured lessons. Children are given access to the full book if they would like to read it after they have completed the lessons. We spend five half-hour sessions on each text – two of these are ‘book talk’, which are followed by a lesson on the ‘big idea’, and two lessons on comprehension. In reading lessons, the children listen to the teacher model reading or practise in groups, pairs or individually. Children are then encouraged to respond to texts through different lenses from the three zones of reading: the ‘fantastics’, the ‘stylistics’ and the ‘analytics’. Together, the three zones of reading are designed to support the children to become confident readers.
The FANTASTICs support the children to identify specific ideas that published authors use to enhance their writing. They represent nine lenses through which the children can discuss the texts that they are reading and the choices that authors make. The children will also encounter the FANTASTICs in their writing lessons as they learn to incorporate these ideas into their own work.
The STYLISTICs are nine key ideas which help the children to demonstrate their understanding of the texts that they have read. They help them to retrieve information from the text, explain their understanding, summarise what they have read and justify their ideas and opinions.
The ANALYTICs are techniques that the children can use to really delve deeply into the texts that they have read, analysing the reasons behind authors’ choices. They allow the children to compare and contrast texts, identifying big themes as well as the fine details.
In whole-class reading, there is a strong emphasis on fluency, as we know that children have to practise as much as possible in order to become competent readers.
Additionally, each class has a whole-class novel, read to them by their class teacher, to encourage and support reading for pleasure and to ensure that all children have access to a wide range of texts and authors.
The following document details the texts covered in the reading scheme:
Miss Ceri Hurley is the Subject Lead for Reading. If you have any questions about how Reading is taught, please contact her through the school office.