Reading at Offley
Pathways to Read
Pupils in Years 2 – 6 follow the Pathways to Read programme of study. This involves a focus on a high quality text each half term which the children explore as a whole class and in smaller groups. Each week within the half term, the children focus on mastering a different reading skill and answer questions and complete independent tasks to help them with this. Over the year, the children develop their comprehension skills using a range of texts as well as developing their fluency in reading using a number of strategies.
The children in KS1 & EYFS use daily phonics lessons and Pathways to Read sessions to develop their skills in decoding and comprehension. PM Benchmarking assessments are used to help teachers understand what level their pupils are reading at. Benchmarking explicitly assess pupil’s instructional and independent reading levels using unseen, meaningful texts. Children are benchmarked by staff, as and when appropriate, to determine their bookband. Children will bring home a banded reading book from school to read at home.
Reading Eggs/Reading Eggspress
In addition to this, all children in EYFS and KS1 will have their own account on the 'Reading Eggs' program, and children in Key Stage 2 have their own account on the 'Reading Eggspress' program. These are online reading programs that we have subscribed to where children can access reading lessons, phonics games and books. Children complete a placement test as and when is necessary to ensure that they are completing tasks at their right level. For Key Stage 2 children, the placement test links into the school bookbanding system, which enables them to choose books at the appropriate level to take home and enjoy.
Home Reading Expectations
Children in EYFS are expected to read at home at least 5 times per week and children in KS1 are expected to read at least 4 times per week. This can be from their banded reading book, Reading Eggs or even a book from home.
We ask that children in Key Stage 2 read as often as possible (at least 3 x 20 mins per week) and have their reading book in school everyday as teachers aim to listen to the children read every fortnight.
Go Read
We now use an online program to record reading both in school and at home. This has replaced the reading diaries/planners that the children used to bring to and from school. On this program, children can record their own reading, and parents and staff can easily see how much reading children are doing. The children are also awarded gems when they record their reading.