English
Reading at Pallister Park Primary School
Our aim at Pallister Park is that all children enjoy and develop a love of reading. We nurture the children’s reading skills by immersing them in a language rich and creative curriculum which develops their knowledge and breadth of vocabulary. We surround the children with high quality texts, those which are both familiar such as a ‘favourite five book’ and unfamiliar texts. From the important foundations using our systematic and structured Phonics program to our reading plus scheme – we make sure our school enriches children with books at every turn.
Children take home books to read which are aligned to their phonic knowledge and progression. In Year 4, 5 and 6, children are enrolled into the Reading Plus scheme whereby they read books online and complete comprehension questions at the correct level for their reading ability.
Phonics at Pallister Park Primary School
We use the systematic Read Write Inc phonics program for our early reading teaching. Sessions run daily in groups where children are taught to recognise sounds, read decodable green words, red tricky words and alien words. They then practise spelling these words and writing them down. Children are taught to apply their phonics skills and improve fluency through the correctly matched Read write inc story books used during these sessions in school.
All staff receive training and regular updates with development opportunities. This ensures continuity and increases staff confidence in delivering the sessions. Our school has invested heavily in developing a team of expert reading teachers and we are committed to a whole school staff training day which will take place in September 2021 alongside continual professional development.
Children’s progress in phonics is closely tracked and children are regularly assessed and regrouped as appropriate. Reading leaders track progress and identify children who require 1:1 intervention which is then implemented in order for children to catch up.
EYFS/KS1 Home Reading Books
Home reading books are phonics based and exactly match our phonics program to ensure books closely match the sounds learned by children. Children take these home and parents are encouraged to support their children in reading these. There are also activities and questions for them to complete in the front and back of the books.
Children’s progress through the reading levels is again closely tracked and once they reach the higher levels of the KS1 reading scheme they can progress to a wider range of take home books containing all taught sounds. These books containing all taught sounds allow children to improve their reading confidence before using the reading plus scheme.
In the summer term all Year 1 children take part in a phonics check, this is a statutory national test in which the children read 20 real words and 20 pseudo words (non-sense /alien words).
EYFS/KS1 Our ‘Favourite Five’
One of the core priorities of our school is to encourage reading for pleasure. We have created a set of ‘Favourite Five’ books within every year group across EYFS and key stage one. Regular reading of these books has been intended for the following reasons:
Vocabulary and Word Recognition
The more your child reads, the larger their vocabulary becomes. When your child reads or hears the same book multiple times, they become familiar and comfortable with a greater number of words.
Pattern and Rhythm
Hearing favourite stories read aloud helps your child become aware of the pattern and rhythm of text. Language is more than just words — it’s how words sound and connect to each other. Parents can model the rhythms of reading for children who are just learning how language works.
Fluency
Repetitive reading allows your child to read without stumbling or stopping, and reading time becomes more pleasant for everyone. Once your child masters one book, it makes moving on to another more appealing.
Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to understand all the components of a story — from plot to character development to symbolism. Each time your child reads or hears a book read to them, they learn more about the story itself. Each pass through the text or illustrations allows them to dive deeper into the story’s meaning, preparing them for more complex narratives down the road.
