Spurcroft Primary School and Nursery
The future begins here...
English- Reading
Our Intent for Reading
At Spurcroft Primary School, we want our all children to become confident and independent readers in their adult lives. Our main goal it to enable this future confidence through promoting a lifelong love of reading which is reinforced throughout a child’s primary education at Spurcroft. We aim for children to challenge themselves in their reading and not only to read for pleasure but to read a range of texts that move a child out of their usual comfort zone to experience a range of genres and styles of book. Our children are fully supported in reading so that reading is inclusive for children with even the highest level of SEND. We aim for children to build reading skills which will be relevant to their futures in giving children the skills to read text which will prepare them for a future life in the 21st century workforce.
We want children to be taught the skills of reading outlined in the National Curriculum and the KS1 and KS2 test content through the use of VIPERS.
The approach with our curriculum is to teach Early Reading as part of our Read Write Inc phonics sessions. From Year 2 once children have completed this programme, they will move to whole class reading sessions. Each class from Year 2 to Year 6 has a 30-minute reading session per day. This involves reading a high quality text as a whole class, and then developing their vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and sequencing (KS1) or summarising (KS2) skills.
How do we teach reading at Spurcroft?
Reading in Reception and Year 1
In Early Years and Year 1 children receive a daily Read Write Inc. lesson delivered in a small group by a trained member of staff. This lesson includes a ‘Speed Sounds’ session where children learn and review the sounds needed to decode, followed by a Reading and Writing lesson. During the reading lesson children are given a text to read with their partner, and focus is on accuracy and fluency as well as developing expression. This will either be part of a three-day cycle or a five-day cycle. Children will take it in turns to read the story with their partner but will also have the chance to practise reading sounds, decodable words (green words) and sight words (red words) with their partner too.
Reading in Year 2 – Year 6
From Year 2 to Year 6 each year group teaches reading as whole class and group sessions. During their 30-minute lesson, children read in a variety of ways. During whole class reading sessions, children may listen to their teacher reading an extract to model fluency and a story teller voice, then read the extract themselves. Children may read with their partner, or individually, or even in chorus with the class.
In Years 2 (January onwards), 3 and 4 reading is taught daily over a ten-day timetable. These lessons comprise of 6 whole class reading sessions (day 1-5 and day 10) and 4 group reading sessions (days 6-9). Children will look at a text or extract from a text that could be narrative, fiction, or poetry.
In Years 5 and 6 there are 4 whole class sessions followed by 6 group sessions.
Forms of reading at Spurcroft
Whole class and Group reading: VIPERS
Children are taught the skills of reading outlined in the National Curriculum and Content Domains (end of key stage test domains) through the use of VIPERS created by the Literacy Shed. These are used in KS1 and KS2 with the only difference being the ‘S’; this stands for ‘Sequencing’ in KS1 and ‘Summarising’ in KS2.
V: Vocabulary
I: Inference
P: Prediction
E: Explanation
R: Retrieval
S: Sequencing (KS1) or Summarising (KS2).
Content domains
Key Stage 1
Content domain reference | VIPERS skill | |
1a | draw on knowledge of vocabulary to understand texts | Vocabulary |
1b | identify / explain key aspects of fiction and non-fiction texts, such as characters, events, titles and information | Retrieval |
1c | identify and explain the sequence of events in texts | Sequence |
1d | make inferences from the text | Inference |
1e | predict what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far | Prediction |
Key Stage 2
Content domain reference | VIPERS Skills | |
2a | give / explain the meaning of words in context | Vocabulary |
2b | retrieve and record information / identify key details from fiction and non-fiction | Retrieval |
2c | summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph | Summarise |
2d | make inferences from the text / explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text | Inference |
2e | predict what might happen from details stated and implied | Prediction |
2f | identify / explain how information / narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole | Explain |
2g | identify / explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases | Explain |
2h | make comparisons within the text | Explain |
The focus of reading lessons varies from lesson to lesson depending on the text type and needs of the children. We ensure the time spent focussing on each VIPERS Skill during a ten day reading timetable is directly aligned with the percentage of total marks given during the end of key stage tests. This means children are exposed to all the skills as well as ensuring lessons are weighted enough on the skills they need. For example during earlier reading, lessons will focus more around retrieval, and as children progress other skills will be introduced.