Reading

Creating a life-long love of reading and books at Much Marcle C of E Primary School is our aim for every child who walks through our doors. It is our belief that every child should want to read for pleasure, not only while they are with us, but far beyond the school gates. We want to open up a treasure trove of wonder and joy for curious young minds. Every child needs to be given the tools to develop into an enthusiastic and confident reader. Reading improves language and vocabulary, inspires imagination and gives everyone the opportunity to develop and foster new interests.

Teachers nurture a love of books by placing reading at the centre of the curriculum, introducing new texts with enthusiasm and enjoyment, promoting a sense of wonder and expectation as the text is explored. We teach the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children.

At Much Marcle we intend:

• for children to become enthusiastic and motivated readers
• to develop children’s confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types
• for children to have the skills to decode words in order to be able to read fluently with understanding of what they have read
• to encourage a love of literature and an enjoyment of reading for pleasure - to use reading to provoke thought within children

How we do it

At Much Marcle the teaching of reading is developed through two distinctive, yet intertwined topics: phonics and comprehension. Both aim to develop competent readers, yet both require a different approach.

Phonics 

Throughout the Early Years and Key Stage 1, children engage in daily phonics sessions. Using the programme ‘Read, Write Inc.’ along with high-quality additional resources, children learn 150+ graphemes that represent 44 speech sounds. They rapidly learn sounds and the letters. High frequency words that are not phonetically decodable are taught as ‘tricky’ red words and are practised frequently.

Our phonics curriculum map gives a clear step-by-step guide of progress for our children, ensuring they can practice and consolidate their skills. This allows children to quickly become confident and independent readers. Once reading fluently and effortlessly, they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. 

Writing

We are currently updating our writing curriculum as we are beginning our Talk4Writing journey.

Speaking and Listening

At Much Marcle we understand that language comprehension is not just about reading itself but, rather, the way in which we make sense of words, sentences and wider language we hear or read. Our children develop language comprehension through talking, listening to and talking about stories and by learning poetry and songs.

We have created a language-rich environment in which the spoken word is a priority and we understand the importance of interaction between children and adults.These back and forth interactions involve the adult:

• thinking out loud, modelling new language for children
• paying close attention to what the children say
• rephrasing and extending what the children say
• validating children’s attempts at using new vocabulary and grammar by rephrasing what children say if necessary
• extending children’s vocabulary and explaining new words
• asking closed and open questions
• answering the children’s qiuestions
• explaining why things happen
• deliberately connecting current and past events (‘Do you remember when….?)
• providing models of accurate grammar
• connecting one idea or action to another
• helping children to articulate ideas in well-formed sentences

Through the use of ‘Learning Partners’ our children practise their skills of listening to, talking with a partner and giving feedback to the group. This encourages them to discuss a question, problem or idea using vocabulary and stem sentences which have been modelled by the teacher. We also use a ‘No Hands Up’ policy within classrooms to ensure all children are givien the opportunity to be heard and to encourage talk amongst those children who may be lacking in confidence.