Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

At Eastgate Academy we believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them; a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share in cultural knowledge and experiences and develop the sophisticated vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our reading curriculum strives to foster a lifelong love of reading. We cultivate the behaviours that they will need to be discerning readers as they read frequently and widely using self-regulation strategies and discuss what they read.

Implementation

Our reading Curriculum is rooted in the robust teaching of phonics. It is delivered through ‘Sound Write’ a linguistic phonics programme that teaches children 175 sound-spelling correspondences over YR to Y2 and beyond.

At Eastgate we are committed to simultaneously nurturing a love of reading. We believe that children best achieve this by being provided with a rich diet of reading genres, both within the set curriculum and through providing free choice opportunities. In this way children can feed their intellectual curiosity, explore their reading preferences, grow their knowledge, learn about their heritage and cultural capital beyond the set curriculum. These opportunities to read for pleasure and for research are provided across all subjects.

Through ‘Power of Reading’ children from YR to Y6 intricately explore and deconstruct high quality texts which they then use to inspire their writing. In this way our children are given the opportunity to explore writing techniques and authorial intent providing them with a richer understanding of how a book and writing is structured.

Specific reading skills of retrieval, prediction, inference and deduction and the ability to retell and summarise are taught x4 a week using the ‘Fred Reading’ programme which is delivered from Y1 – Y6. The children are exposed to a wide range of quality reading materials including film and there is a particular emphasis on developing vocabulary knowledge and etymology. The

programme is anchored in discussing texts, forming opinion, comparing and looking for links and themes and especially at KS2 analysing beyond the literal. The programme also offers weekly opportunities to practise written comprehension questions thus allowing teaching opportunities to analyse question types and model answers.

Children are encouraged to practise their reading at home and are given books which are closely matched to their reading ability.

We ensure that our pupils are confident and independent readers equipped with the skills to succeed as active and curious learners. Our pupils are immersed in a literary and vocabulary rich environment which nurtures their cultural understanding and appreciation of their environment and that of the wider world. They are provided with a variety of high-quality reading materials and opportunities, which will enable them to develop as lifelong readers with a love of books.

Impact

Attainment in reading is measured using statutory assessments such as the end of EYFS, Key Stage 1 and 2 and following the outcomes in the Year 1 Phonics Screening check. Additionally, we track our own reading attainment through the use of termly PIXL tests, biannual Salford Reading Tests and Comprehension Conversations plus ongoing teacher assessment. More importantly, we believe that reading is the key to unlock all learning and so the impact of our reading goes beyond the statutory assessments. We give all the children the opportunity to enter the amazing new worlds that a book opens up to them and share texts from a range of cultures or genres to inspire them to question or seek out more for themselves. We want reading to be the golden thread running through a child’s journey at Eastgate Academy. When they leave us, we want our children to possess the reading skills and love of literature which will help them to enjoy and access any aspects of learning they encounter in the future.