Christ The King Primary School Thornbury, Bristol
Christ The King Primary School Thornbury, Bristol
Christ The King Primary School Thornbury, Bristol

READING AT CHRIST THE KING

Our Mission Statement

'Making a difference by inspiring a love of life and learning for all. We build strong foundations within God's loving hands'. 

 

Our Core Values

We provide a Catholic Christian education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Our Core Values. Our Core Values are inspired by Gospel values and stem from love - love is forgiveness, sharing and kindness. They are:


  • Responsibility
  • Compassion
  • Respect
  • Honesty
  • Perseverance
  • Courage

 

At Christ the King Catholic Primary School we inspire our children to have a lifelong love of learning through a broad, enriched and balanced curriculum. We aspire for all children to be the best they can be and make a difference to our world by building strong foundations within God’s loving hands.

 

Our Approach, Aim, and Curriculum

 Our key curriculum drivers are:


  • Inclusivity
  • Creativity
  • Curiosity
  • Oracy 


Intent

Reading at CTK is at the heart of our curriculum and through quality-first teaching in this subject we will be able to underpin all the skills the children will need to succeed in English and other curriculum areas. This journey will begin in EYFS with the teaching of early reading through high-quality phonics provision and end in Year 6 where our students will have developed a true love of reading both fiction, poetry and non-fiction texts. Through these books, children will be able to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live as well as gain knowledge and comprehension skills across the whole of the curriculum. It is our intention to ensure that by the time our children leave our school, they are able to read fluently and with confidence and enjoyment.


Implementation

Our newly created curriculum at CTK ensures our children have access to tailored, well-sequenced and relevant learning. Reading is an essential element of this new curriculum and therefore the reading knowledge and skills which are taught at each stage have been carefully considered to ensure they are age-appropriate and sequenced to follow a clear progression of skills using the VIPERS approach. Reading skills progression is ensured through the use of the reading ladder which is used to form the learning focus for each session and allows skills to be built upon year by year. These high quality texts have been selected from Literacy Shed which ensures age appropriate texts and progression. Where possible, we have linked these quality texts to our new topic or science areas. However, where only tenuous links could be made, we have prioritised high quality texts over topic-based texts.


Phonics & Spelling Provision

Phonics is an important daily lesson in each class in Reception and Year 1 and forms the basis for spelling interventions in KS2. Phonics sessions last 30 minutes. Currently the school follows the government ‘Letters and Sounds’ scheme which develops the children’s ability to hear, discriminate, recognise and write the sounds. The school is part of the English Hub ensuring our approach to this crucial subject is now underpinned by new research and that our teaching practice is of an excellent standard. 


Assessment

Every year, Y1 pupils take the National Phonics Screening check. The children are expected to reach a benchmark level. Each year we hold a parent information session to help parents to support their children at home. This summative assessment forms the basis for phonic interventions in Year 2 and into KS2. Regular assessment take place to identify gaps and inform targeted interventions.


In KS2, all children complete Benchmarking throughout the year which is used to ensure the children are reading appropriately challenging books. In addition to this, our school has invested in NFER tests which all children from Year 1 onwards undertake 3 times a year. These provide teachers with an accurate assessment of where their students are in relation to age-related expectations and this information is used to inform assessments on SIMs. From this, teachers are able to run a gap analysis on reading knowledge and skills in their classes, plan interventions and pinpoint teaching to ensure all children know more and remember more. 


Reading Lessons

All children from Y2 upwards take part in reading sessions, which run 3 to 4 sessions per week, that are planned by all teachers to teach a range of skills and techniques which enable children to comprehend the meaning of what they read and develop their understanding of the vocabulary used by authors. The school uses the VIPERS acronym to explore reading skills and all of these skills are explicitly taught, modelled and practised each week. 


Home Reading

All children are expected to read at home and take home reading books to practise, improve and enjoy. Children are also encouraged to enhance their reading through school reading corners and library. 


Impact

The impact of our curriculum design will be that children will have developed a love of reading and made at least good progress in reading from their last point of statutory assessment. By Year 6, children will have built a repertoire of reading skills and knowledge which will be rooted in experience of high-quality picture books, novels, poems and non-fiction texts. Children will be able to use these skills going forwards as a key tool in helping them to learn, and as a result, know more, remember more and understand more.


We measure the impact of teaching and learning in reading through the following methods:

  • SIMS to assess and identify gaps;
  • NFER tests;
  • Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).

We have our ‘100 Books to read at CTK Challenge’ that starts in our Reception Class and goes right through the school. At our end of Term and Year Celebration Assemblies we reward and recognise those children who have read regularly.

Reading at Home:   how can you help and support your child? ......

  • Will ensure every child has access to reading books for use at home;
  • Try to hear your child read as often as possible – ideally daily – for 5 – 10 minutes each time;
  • Talk about the pictures and story and ask your child to tell you what they have read – stop them during the story ask them to predict what they think might happen next;
  • Do not tell your child unfamiliar words immediately – encourage them to work it out by either using their phonics or the pictures or the words about it to help;
  • Don’t let your child struggling with unfamiliar words for too long, reading must be enjoyable;
  • If your child is a confident, fluent reader, encourage them to read independently in a quiet place, but ask them questions about the book;
  • Reading doesn’t have to be a book all the times – newspapers, magazines, comics, leaflets even road signs all encourage good, confident reading;
  • Use their School Yellow Reading Record to record when and what your child has read. It will help us to support your child and allow us to praise and encourage them for their efforts.

If you wish to find out more about how you can support your child/ren with their reading, how we teach it and what you can do to encourage you child/ren to read, please do not hesitate to speak with your child’s class teacher. 


If you would like to read about our Reading Progression Skills please click this link.

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