Hangleton Primary School

Vision for Reading at Hangleton.

Becoming a confident reader is central to all that we do and we focus on ensuring that children can express themselves, talk about their reading and quickly develop a love of stories and books in order to make links and help them make sense of the world around them. Rigorous daily phonics begins in week one of reception and allows our children to make rapid progress. Our children read every day and are read aloud to every day so that children experience reading as calming, nurturing and enjoyable and children quickly see themselves as readers.

We believe that equipping children with reading skills allows them to access the wider curriculum, leads to success in all areas of their education, inspires creativity, boosts self-confidence and offers greater potential to go on to lead rewarding and enriching lives.

At Hangleton, we recognise that there are similarities and differences between individuals and groups and we will strive to ensure that our differences do not become barriers to participation, access and learning. We have deliberately created inclusive processes and practices, where the needs of individuals and groups are quickly identified and interventions carefully planned to ensure that no child is left behind.

Our Principles of Reading are laid out here.

Implementation

• Rigorous phonics teaching (Little Wandle) begins twice daily in week one of reception, to equip children for the very best start in reading (see Early Reading and Phonics)
• High quality core texts are used in each year group. By the end of their time at Hangleton, they will have an extensive bank of these.
• Children read in class across all subjects: extracts, fictional books, non-fiction texts, short texts, poetry, song lyrics, comic strips, wagolls.
• Whole class reading is used in KS1 & 2, using VIPERS skills to develop effective higher order reading skills.
• Children who need additional support regularly read 1:1 with an adult
• Children at risk of being left behind in their reading are quickly identified and tailored reading interventions are carefully planned for.
• Reading buddies allow all children to feel successful in whole class reading
• Children are read to aloud each day, exposing them to a wide range of text types and stories including cosy storytimes with class teacher and blankets, cushions, calm lighting.
• The school library is regularly accessed for children to choose and borrow books and is a calm space to enjoy reading together.
• Reading happens all over the school, including outdoors, in forest school, in the sensory garden and on the reading chair!
• Author visits and book celebration events inspire and excite children’s love of reading e.g Brighton Festival City Reads events and visit to Brighton Dome to meet an author!

Oracy

• Oracy, conversation and classroom talk is a top priority and is woven into all aspects of learning.
• At Hangleton, children are immersed in a language rich environment in order to maximise their communication skills.
• We have high expectations for children to speak in full sentences and communicate their ideas cohesively.
• Pitch, progression and use of high quality vocabulary across the curriculum is modelled by the adults and displayed and ‘bumped into’ frequently.
• ‘Talk About’ sessions allow children to share the things that are important to them and that they are passionate about.
•  ‘Ask ME About’ stickers help facilitate learning conversations with adults at home and at school.
• This bridging of the vocabulary gap underpins progress and attainment in reading and writing: children learn to read as a writer and write as a reader.