"Reading is the magic key to where you want to be," Alice Joyce Davidson

The aims and objectives of Art and Design Technology teaching are in line with the National Curriculum and enable children to:  

• 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
• 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

Intent

At Heartwood we strive for our children to be fluent and independent readers, who read widely across the curriculum, with a lifelong love of reading. We know that future success is linked directly to a broad vocabulary, reading for pleasure and ability to communicate effectively through text. Our priority is to therefore ensure that children continuously have opportunities to achieve the speaking and listening, and reading expectations for their age group.

High quality texts, including some books from Pie Corbett, No Outsiders and Five Plagues of Reading, form our reading spine, along with poetry; narrative, diverse, humorous and classic. Story time is vital daily to embed a love for reading and to support children in their vocabulary and understanding of texts.

Children are encouraged to develop skills for learning, including the ability to listen, discuss, think, question and reflect, investigate, create and build on knowledge and understanding.

Implementation

At Heartwood we prioritise children being able to read. Throughout EYFS, KS1 and for those children in KS2 who need support in reading, we teach reading skills using Read Write Inc (RWI). All our Reading Teachers are trained in RWI and this allows for high quality, consistent daily teaching across school. We also prioritise accurate decoding and fluency and hear our children read in RWI and 1-1 reading sessions.

Once children have completed the RWI phonics programme, the focus of teaching reading changes to comprehension. We teach reading comprehension using 'Destination Reader'. This involves daily sessions incorporating whole class modelling prior to the children applying comprehension skills through partner and independent reading. Children deepen their understanding of the texts they read through the systematic use of a series of strategies and reading stems. The approach encompasses the key principles of effective reading provision and fully meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. It also builds a culture of reading for pleasure and purpose.

Impact

From the consistent teaching of reading comprehension, using Destination Reader, from Year 2, children are able to read with more fluency, have an increased understanding of specific tier 2 vocabulary, have an increased reading stamina and have a better understanding of the texts they have read; being able to predict, summarise, clarify, infer, ask questions, evaluate, and make connections.