St. Peter's Catholic Primary School

Reading Records are used daily throughout EYFS - Year 6. Older children are also able to record their reading in these records independently. We ask that all parents listen to their child read regularly (minimum of 4 times per week) and record a comment about their progress and understanding in the reading record. Please view the documents under Reading Information for Parents below for further information.

Children take part in a small group Reading Practice Session three times per week. The same book will be read each in each of these 3 sessions with a different objective for each read. The first session of the week will focus on developing decoding skills, exposing your child to the graphemes that they have already been taught. Each book will be 90% decodable so that the children will develop more independence in reading and feel achievement even in the first few weeks of the Autumn Term. The second Reading Practice Session will focus on the skill of fluency, children will re-read the text that they are familiar with as well as copy the phrasing modelled by their teacher. The third Reading Practice Session will look at comprehension skills, how well the children can answer questions about what has happened in the text and use pictures and words to find the answer to a question. These books will also be sent home for your child to read throughout the week. Books must be in your child's book bag each day.

Teachers will continually assess your child's reading ability and match them to a reading book which is appropriate to their current learning.

At KS2 we follow a mastery approach to reading through the programme Pathways to Read. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for reading. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the reading activities provided. We deliver four whole class reading sessions per week from years 2-6. In our reading sessions, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently.
Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.

Each child in KS2 has a levelled reading skill book matched to their ability. They are used to upskill vocabularly, improve fluency and complement reading that takes place in WCRP. Children read these books at home and in school.

Children may choose a libary book from their class library or from home. Thee books are purely for Reading for Pleasure.

Towards the end of Year 2 and at KS2 the children use Read Theory.

Read Theory is a web-based reading scheme that uses technology to provide individualised scaffolded silent reading practice for students in years 2-6. It aims to develop and improve students' silent reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. All children are individually assessed and each have a programme designed to ensure that progression is made. Children are also informed when they log on of the progress they are making, giving them a visual aide to want to improve.

St. Peter's have chosen to use Read Theory to:

• Compliment reading that is already taking place in school
• Encourage reluctant readers to have ownership of their own reading and progression
• To further develop fluency and sight-reading skills, as well as vocabulary

How do we use Read Theory?

Each year group complete a set number of comprehensions and vocabulary sessions in a week. Read Theory determines a students’ level and then assigns them passages that are tailored to their abilities. As the children begin to show improvement, they’re presented with slightly more difficult passages. 

Please click on the image below to be taken to the Read Thoery log-in page.

Poetry is an important part of our Reading Curriculum at St Peter's. Pathways to poetry is also followed from EYFS to Y6. It enhances work on vocabulary, spoken language, reading and gives pupils the opportunity to play with language orally. Each year we look forward to celebrating National Poetry Day taking part in activities which immerse the children in a wide range of rich vocbulary, themes and emotions. 

All children take part in their class reading sessions. However some children may struggle to keep up with their year group reading age and this is when Rapid catch up and Daily keep up sessions are introduced. Teachers use assessments to identify any gaps that a child may have and use the Little Wandle Daily keep up plan to address these areas. The child will work with a skilled and fully trained teacher of teaching assistant to focus on key skills and GPCs that they are not yet confident on. Daily keep up sessions are not stopped until the child can blend and read words independently relating to their year group age. These interventions are used throughout EYFS, KS1 and KS2. 

For a small amount of children these daily keep up sessions may not be enough, in these circumstances Little Wandle Rapid catch up sessions are used. Rapid catch up is for any child in Year 2 or above who cannot read at age-related expectations and needs targeted support so that they can access the curriculum and enjoy reading as soon as possible. Children accessing this intervention will take a book home each week that is fully decodable and matches the progression from their Rapid Catch Up sessions. These books have been written sprecifically for children age 7+ and provide practise at the correct level for each phonics phase as well as ensuring that children's vocabulary and language development is supported.

In Y2 - 6 intervention clubs are used to support the lower 20% of readers. These children also receive smaller guided reading groups and are involved in daily reading sessions.

Children starting our school with English as an additional language will take part in all reading sessions alongside their year group peers. This is to ensure that children access a high level of spoken English language and make rapid progress in speech and language. Children with EAL will be assessed by their class teacher using the Little Wandle placement assessment, these assessments will inform teachers of the child's current phonics knowldge and what phonic phase they are working at. Once this assessment has taken place, teachers will then use the Rapid Catch Up sessions (detailed above) to help the child to quickly progress through the phonic phases.

In addition to this, Y2 - 6 use Nessy which is a web-based reading scheme specifically targeting children who are not achiving A.R.E or who are working below.

At St Peter's we use the Little Wandle SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) programme that mirrors the main Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics programme but with adaptations and support in place that make it possible to meet the needs of all learners. It has been created to help children learn to read using the right level of challenge for each child and uses a graduated approach if needed. Some children with SEND will require very few or very small adaptations to the main Little Wandle programme (to meet their sensory needs, for example). Other children will need fundamental changes to the pace and progression of the programme to meet their more complex needs.

We encourage all of our pupils and families to regularly visit our local library to borrow a wide selection of high quality books and texts.

Woolston Library opening times and contact details: