Reading, Early Reading and Phonics at St Richard's

At St Richard’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that reading is the key to unlocking the curriculum and opening doors to lifelong learning. We are committed to developing confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers who read widely, think deeply and develop a genuine love of books. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, and we have high expectations for every child, ensuring that all pupils become successful readers regardless of their starting point.

In the Early Years and Key Stage 1, we teach phonics through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. Phonics is taught daily through engaging, systematic and rigorous lessons that enable children to develop secure decoding skills quickly and effectively. Reading practice sessions are closely matched to children's phonics knowledge, ensuring that they read with increasing accuracy, fluency and confidence. Through regular assessment and timely intervention, we ensure that any child who falls behind receives the support they need to catch up rapidly.

As pupils move through the school, we continue to develop reading fluency, comprehension and a love of literature. We use Accelerated Reader to monitor reading progress, assess comprehension and support pupils in choosing books that match their reading ability whilst encouraging challenge and enjoyment. This allows teachers to track progress closely and ensure that every child is developing as a reader.

We are passionate about fostering a culture of reading throughout our school. Every classroom promotes reading for pleasure, and pupils are encouraged to explore a rich range of high-quality texts. We carefully select books that reflect the diverse cultures, backgrounds and heritage represented within our school community, ensuring that every child can see themselves reflected in the books they read whilst also developing an understanding of the wider world.

Reading is celebrated at every opportunity. We mark World Book Day with special activities and events, welcome visiting authors through our annual BookFest, and provide opportunities for children to engage with inspiring writers and illustrators. Every class visits our local library each term, helping pupils develop a love of reading beyond the classroom and promoting independent reading habits.

Through our ambitious reading curriculum, high-quality phonics provision and rich literary experiences, we aim to develop children who read fluently, understand deeply, think critically and leave St Richard's as confident, lifelong readers.

Little Wandle Phonics and Early Reading

At St Richard’s Catholic Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a confident, fluent and enthusiastic reader. We teach early reading and phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, a systematic and evidence-informed phonics programme used by schools across the country.

We believe that learning to read is one of the most important skills a child will develop. Strong reading skills unlock the entire curriculum, enable children to achieve highly across all subjects and foster a lifelong love of learning.

How Does Little Wandle Work?

Children begin learning phonics as soon as they start school. Through daily lessons, they are taught the relationship between letters and sounds, enabling them to blend sounds together to read words and segment words to spell.

Lessons are carefully structured and build progressively, allowing children to:

• Recognise and pronounce sounds confidently.
• Read words accurately and fluently.
• Develop strong spelling skills.
• Build confidence and enjoyment in reading.
• Become independent readers.

Children regularly revisit previously taught sounds to ensure learning becomes secure and embedded in their long-term memory.

Reading Practice Sessions

Alongside daily phonics lessons, children take part in regular reading practice sessions. These sessions are carefully matched to each child's phonics knowledge, ensuring that the books they read contain only the sounds they have already been taught.

Reading sessions focus on three key areas:

Decoding

Children use their phonics knowledge to read words accurately.

Prosody

Children learn to read with expression, fluency and understanding.

Comprehension

Children discuss what they have read and develop their understanding of the text.

By reading the same book several times in school, children develop confidence, fluency and success as readers.

Reading Books Sent Home

Your child will bring home:

• A reading practice book that closely matches their current phonics knowledge.
• A sharing book chosen for enjoyment and reading together at home.
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The reading practice book is intended to build fluency and confidence. Children should be able to read this book successfully because it contains sounds they have already been taught.

The sharing book may be more challenging and is intended to be enjoyed together, helping to develop vocabulary, comprehension and a love of stories.

How Can Parents Help?

Parents play a vital role in helping children become successful readers.

You can support your child by:

• Reading with them every day, even if only for 10 minutes.
• Listening to them read their reading practice book several times.
• Encouraging them to blend sounds rather than guessing words.
• Praising effort and celebrating success.
• Talking about stories and asking simple questions about what they have read.
• Sharing a wide range of books together for enjoyment.
• Visiting the local library regularly.
• Using the Little Wandle parent resources available online.

Most importantly, make reading a positive experience. Children who see reading as enjoyable are more likely to become enthusiastic lifelong readers.

Supporting Reading at Home

When listening to your child read, you can ask:

• What happened in the story?
• Who is your favourite character and why?
• What do you think will happen next?
• How do you know that?
• Can you find a word that tells us that?

These conversations help develop comprehension and language skills alongside decoding.

Working Together

At St Richard’s, we believe that the strongest outcomes are achieved when home and school work in partnership. Through Little Wandle, daily reading practice and a shared commitment to reading for pleasure, we aim to ensure that every child leaves our school as a fluent, confident and enthusiastic reader, ready for the next stage of their education.

What is Accelerated Reader? 

Accelerated Reader (AR) is used as part of a comprehensive reading program at our school. While we continue to teach the skill of reading in class through shared texts, the AR books chosen by your children, provide them with the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have developed. Children using AR are encouraged to progress at their own pace and they have personalised targets based on their reading ability. The aim of AR is for all children to succeed in achieving their targets. 

The program is divided into two parts: Star Reading and Accelerated Reader.

Star Reading

A computer adaptive reading test used to asses pupils' reading ability and to determine their recommended reading levels for Accelerated Reader. The star reading measures growth over time.  

All children taking part in AR will complete a STAR reading test at the beginning of the year and at the end of each term. This is a multiple choice reading assessment completed individually on a computer at school. Questions continually adapt to your child's responses, so if their answer is correct, the difficulty level is increased. If they miss a question or give an incorrect answer, the difficulty is reduced.

The results from the STAR reading assessment along with teacher judgment assist in identifying your child's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) range. 

What is a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)? 

The ZPD is a numerical range of books (eg. 2.4 - 2.7) which will give your child the appropriate level of challenge according to their reading ability. Your child will be given a ZPD range after they have taken the STAR reading test. It is important for children to read books within their ZPD, as they must be able to understand the book which they are reading. These will be adjusted based on your child’s progress.

Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader (AR) is the computer program that helps teachers to manage and monitor a child's independent reading practice. Children pick a book to read which falls within their ZPD range. When they have finished reading, they take a short quiz on the computer - passing the quiz is an indication that they have understood what they have read. 

If they are reading at the recommended level for them, most children are likely to be successful and enjoy the books and quizzes. Best of all they learn and grow at their own pace. 

This is an example of an AR quiz: 

How do they choose a book? 

Children select books appropriate for their individual reading level and interests that is within their ZPD. All books in the school library are labeled in the following ways to help guide choices: 

Book level

Books are levelled using a nationally recognised readability formula with the level representing the difficulty of the text. The levelling criteria covers factors such as vocabulary, average word length, average sentence length, grammatical complexity etc. - not how long the book is or how many pictures it contains. Our reading books have been levelled and labelled to make it easier for the children to choose an appropriate book. You can find the book level on the spine of your child’s reading book. Each book level has been given a colour to make it easier to select a book off the shelf.

Interest level

Relates to the content and appropriateness:  

• LY = lower years, approx. age 5-8 (KS1)
• MY = middle years, approx. age 9-13 (KS2/3)
• UY = upper years, approx. age 14+ (KS4)

Points

Each book that has an AR reading practice quiz is given a point value. These points are based on difficulty and length of the book. Students will earn more points depending on how well they do on the quiz. Children have daily access to iPads/tablets to enable them to take a quiz. It is important that they take their quiz as soon as possible after they have read their book, as this will give them the best chance of passing. In order to demonstrate that they have understood their book, your child should be aiming for a pass rate of 85%. If they achieve this several times, your child’s class teacher may suggest they try the next book level band. If your child consistently achieves lower than 85%, the class teacher may suggest altering the book level band until they have built their confidence.

You will notice that the number of points assigned to the books varies according to their length and the amount of reading time required for example Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is worth 32 points while Fantastic Mr Fox is worth 1 point. This information is on the inside of all books from the school library. 

How will I know if a book has an AR quiz? 

There are over 20,000 books, both fiction and non-fiction with an AR reading practice quiz and many of these are available in the school library. The majority of books with quizzes are labelled. We encourage children to read books they may have at home or borrowed form the local library. To find out if a book has a quiz you can login to AR bookfinder: 

https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/ 

What if my child does not like reading? 

In most cases, children really enjoy taking quizzes. Using AR, your child will be reading books at his/her own reading and interest level so that after completing the book they should do well on the quiz. This success will encourage your child to read more and with continuing guidance and success even those who say they do not like reading will often develop a love of reading. 

Children can monitor and celebrate their progress every time they log into their AR account. Recognition will be given for the number of books read, the amount of words read and their overall quiz scores. They will also be able to see suggested books to try within their ZPD. 

How can I help at home? 

Encourage your child to read at home every day. Create a culture of reading in your household by reading with your child, starting a home library, visiting your local library or book shop on a regular basis, letting your child see you reading and discussing books that each of you has read. When reading with your child, stop and ask questions to be sure your child is understanding what they read. Reading with your child, no matter what their age, is an important part of developing a good reader and building a lifelong love of reading and learning.