Reading at Foxfields
At Foxfields our curriculum intent is as follows –
‘A tailored curriculum designed to prepare our pupils to be confident and successful individuals who make outstanding progress and are prepared for life after school.’
At Foxfields Academy, we strive for excellence in English throughout the school. We aim to develop children’s abilities within a cross curricular programme of Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening. English plays a vital and important role both in education and the wider society. At Foxfields, we recognise that understanding language helps all pupils to access the core and wider curriculum.
Across all classes, pupils are given opportunities to develop their knowledge, understanding and use of spoken and written English, within a balanced and bespoke curriculum.
The objectives of English are to enable our pupils to:
· Learn how to read and write with fluency and confidence
· Develop a love of reading and reading for pleasure
· Develop an extensive vocabulary
· Experience a range of text/media types and genres
· Learn how to apply grammatical terminology in their own writing
· Have the opportunity to write for pleasure- exploring their own ideas and creativity
Phonics
At Foxfields Academy, we believe that all of our pupils can become fluent readers and writers. We prioritise the development of early reading by putting it at the heart of our curriculum. Using robust and systematic teaching of phonics, we provide an effective transition into independently reading, which subsequently encourages our older pupils to read widely and often.
Phonics is streamed daily across Lower School, using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Scheme, which is a systemic and synthetic phonics programme. Lessons follow the revised progression which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. Any child who needs additional practice to support their reading, has targeted interventions delivered by a fully trained member of staff following our reading pathway. Phonics interventions match the structure of class teaching and use the same procedures, resources and mantra’s, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.
Reading
Moving from phonics towards fluency, Accelerated Reader continues to support each child’s love of reading, as well as continue to develop their fluency throughout their school education. Accelerated reader is a programme used in all classes at Foxfields to ensure all children have a reading book that will comfortably challenge pupils of all ages and abilities, while continuing to support their vocabulary acquisition and fluency of reading. Children are assessed frequently throughout the year and termly, children are given a new ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) range from which they can select their reading book within. After each book they read within their ZPD range, pupils will complete an online quiz and receive immediate feedback on their comprehension of the book.
Pupils have the opportunity to read 1-1 with an adult, each day. These reading sessions are recorded in a class reading folder.
Children will have the opportunity to participate in exciting activities linked to reading, including:
· Visits to the local library
· World Book Day celebrations – dressing up, activities linked to favourite stories
· Roald Dahl Day celebrations
· Author Visit
Key Stage 4
As pupils progress into our upper school, they will read a range of non-fiction and fiction, covering a wide range of genres including Shakespeare and historical texts. They will learn how to critically evaluate authors and compare and contrast with other texts. In KS4, children will build on their knowledge from KS3 and include reading of texts from 19th – 21st century.
They will study poetry from 1789 in detail and choose literature for pleasure and interest. Children will analyse and use evidence from the texts to critically evaluate the plot, setting, characters and relationships between them.
Reading Pathway
We recognise that our pupil’s reading abilities and starting points vary widely and to respond to the diversity of need in reading, our reading intervention pathway focuses on all aspects of reading.
