Holy Trinity

English

Reading and Phonics

At Holy Trinity, we aim to instil in all our children a love of reading. We give them the very best start they can have - balancing learning to read with enjoyment of books and other texts. We promote and embed a love for reading for pleasure in a variety of different ways as we recognise the importance of reading and aim for all of our children to become confident independent readers with an excellent understanding of what they read.  We believe that reading ‘opens the door’ to learning, enabling children to access a wider curriculum. Children who read a lot will go on to become lifelong learners.

 At Holy Trinity Primary School, we aim to:

• Develop happy, healthy and curious learners who read confidently and fluently and seek to acquire knowledge independently.
• Help our pupils to develop a lifelong enjoyment of reading taking genuine pleasure from what they read.
• Give our children the reading skills they need to access all areas of the curriculum.
• Enable children to access, understand and begin to manage information.
• Help children begin to understand the meaning of what they read and what is read to them.
• Help children make responses to what they read, justifying those responses.
• Allow all children to use reading to become immersed in other worlds…both real and imagined!

 At Holy Trinity, we consider ourselves a community of readers.

 Therefore, we expect all adults to model and communicate their love of reading in the following ways:

• Story time
• opportunities for reading for pleasure time across school and children sharing library books at home
• Shared comprehension exercises, focusing on the different skills of reading and also inspire class discussions about texts with reading aloud being modelled by all teachers
• Book talk sessions where teaches model how to find evidence to support answers, and children have a go at doing this themselves
• Providing reading areas that inspire our children to read
• Reading with the individual children who need our support the most with all children receiving the phonetic support and resources they need to succeed

 As soon as children start in Reception we begin the teaching of phonics and start to develop children’s love of books by modelling reading, sharing stories and encouraging children to explore a range of books as part of their daily routine. We also begin to teach children to decode (sound out words) and read independently. Children progress at their own pace and, at this early stage, read regularly to an adult on a one-to-one basis as well as participate in Guided Reading sessions. We also talk about the books that we share to develop very important early comprehension skills.  To support their work in school, children take home reading books and class library books to share at home as well as access to a range of ebooks using our whole school Twinkl Phonics app. We listen to children read in school on a 1:1 basis as well as in small groups and support children in choosing library books to take home.

 Key Stage One:

Through a combination of modelled, shared, guided, individual and independent reading, as appropriate, children continue to enjoy their reading success and progress. They learn to understand, analyse and thoughtfully respond to a wider range of texts. Children continue to take books home to support them both in learning to read and reading for pleasure. Staff regularly model reading aloud and the use of expression and learning how to segment and blend trickier words is consistently modelled and practiced within our daily Phonics sessions too. We ensure children of all ages learn comprehension strategies and are able to respond to texts. We explicitly teach the following key reading domains:

•  Prediction
• Retrieval
• Sequencing
• Vocabulary (and grammar – linguistic knowledge)

 Parents and Carers

At Holy Trinity, we understand that reading is important and that parents and carers have a vital role to play in helping children to enjoy and gain success in reading. Reading and sharing stories at home is one of the most important ways that parents can help their child to succeed. We encourage all parents to take the time to hear their children read and talk about the books with them. By showing children that reading is both important and enjoyable at home, this has a positive impact on the attitudes and beliefs and will instill in children the love of reading.

 Home Reading Books:

Reading Schemes

In school, we have a range of fiction and non-fiction decodable reading books which are used throughout school to support children in learning to read. In KS2, we take a combined approach to matching appropriate levels to the books children read which focuses on not only their decodable ability with words, but also an individual’s ability to read fluently and fully understand the books they read. As current DfE guidance advises that children should have the opportunity to re-read and revisit familiar texts to build confidence and fluency, we have developed a weekly timetable to ensure a consistent approach across Reception and KS1, this approach will also be applied to any KS2 children who are still relying on their phonetic strategies to read independently. This approach also provides children with the opportunity to read, re-read and ‘master’ their book for the week.

The schemes used include:

• Twinkl Rhino Readers (EYFS and KS1)
• Big Cat Collins (Phonetically decodable Stage 6 /7)
• Project X
• 7 Plus (Phonics intervention books)
• Project X (Phonics Intervention books)

 At the beginning of the children’s reading journey, children have access to our phonetic reading scheme ‘Rhino Readers.’ Parents are asked to record any books their child reads in their home reading diary. As current DfE guidance advises that children should have the opportunity to re-read and revisit familiar texts to build confidence and fluency, we have developed a weekly timetable to ensure a consistent approach across Reception and KS1, this approach will also be applied to any KS2 children who are still relying on their phonetic strategies to read independently. This approach also provides children with the opportunity to read, re-read and ‘master’ their book for the week.

Monday – Rhino Reader book to be sent home matched to current phonics level of teaching. Children who are in intervention groups will have a Rhino Readers book linked to the level they are consolidating within these sessions. Books changed every Monday. Questions and phoneme revision tasks can be found at the front of these books and additional access to a range of ebooks matched to phonics level will be offered via the ‘Twinkl Go’ app throughout the year,

Thursday – Read Together books - children to choose a book matched to current level of phonics teaching to take home and share with their parents. Differentiated levels of phonic books offered to those children who reuire them. Books changed every Thursday.

Friday – Library book chosen with children having time to read a range of books and then enjoy and share their chosen book with their families at home. Books changed every Friday.

Phonics and Spelling

At Holy Trinity CE, we recognise reading as a key life skill, which underpins access to the rest of the curriculum. We aim for children to read words and simple sentences by the end of Reception, become successful, fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1 and develop a lifelong love of reading as they move through school.

 The systematic teaching of synthetic phonics, using  the Twinkl Phonics programme (based around Letters and Sounds sequence of phonemes) is given a high priority throughout Early Years and Key Stage 1.

 Through following the Twinkl Phonics teaching sequence, the children are taught the 44 phonemes that make up all the sounds required for reading and spelling. These phonemes include those made by just one letter and those that are made by two or more.

Children work through the different phases and as they grow in confidence and experience, they are introduced to alternative ways of representing the same sound

 Children need to learn key phonic knowledge and develop skills in segmenting and blending to complete the phonics check at the end of Year 1 and as part of developing fluency in reading. We also value and encourage pupils to read for enjoyment and recognise that this starts with the foundations of acquiring letter sounds, segmenting and blending skills – enjoying success and gaining confidence from a positive experience.

•  By the end of Reception, the aim is for all children to have a secure understanding of Levels 2 and 3 in the programme and to be able to segment and blend words within these phases, in terms of reading and blending words with graphemes learnt from Level 3, in order to start Level 4 at the start of the Autumn term in Year 1. Children are introduced to the ‘tricky words’ early in the Autumn term in Reception and aim to read and write the high frequency words for Level2 to 3 before they enter Year 1.
• The aim in Year 1 is to ensure all children have completed Level 4 and 5 and be ready to begin the Spelling Shed spelling programme upon entry into Year 2. We aim for all children to read and write all the common exception words for Year 1 and for Year 2 at the end of the year and children have many opportunities to practice and consolidate tricky and common exception words in KS1 daily Phonics teaching and daily, discrete KS2 spelling session.
• By the end of Reception, the aim is for all children to have a secure understanding of Phases 2 and 3 in Phonics and to be able to segment and blend words within these phases, in terms of reading and blending words with graphemes learnt from Phase 3, in order to start Phase 4 at the start of the Autumn term in Year 1. Children are introduced to the ‘tricky words’ early in the Autumn term in Reception and aim to read and write the high frequency words for Phase 2 to 3 before they enter Year 1.
•  We also strive to effectively support those KS2 children who are still relying on their phonics skills when reading through Twinkl Phonics interventions and phonetically decodable home reading books from the 7+ and Project X reading schemes.

 Here are our Phonics Timetable and our Reading and Phonics Intent, Implementation and Impact statements:

Phonics Phases Overview -

This document outlines when each Phonics Phase (Level Twinkl Phonics) will be covered and what your child will learn during these phases in their Phonics Journey:

KS2 Home reading books:

Our KS2 reading scheme is a mix of Big Cat Collins phonetically decodable books at the start of the scheme, which progresses to the ORT reading book sequence. Parents are asked to record any books their child reads in their home reading diary. Children who still need phonics support are given phonetically decodable texts from the 7 Plus and Project X phonics books, which are intended for KS2 children working 12-18 months behind their peers. All KS2 reading books are changed at least twice a week, with children being encouraged to re-read their book as well as allowing children the option to change their reading book if they are not enjoying their current read. Children who are capable readers and working at greater depth in Y5 and 6 are moved to the ‘Free Reading’ option, choosing books from either the KS2 or Class library. Children also take a class or key stage library book home on a regular basis.

The level of challenge increases throughout the year groups through the complexity of texts being read. Vocabulary is developed by the following strategies: a range of genres, a variety of authors with varying styles and structures, specific vocabulary teaching, application of new and adventurous vocabulary across different lessons, vocabulary tasks within the Book Talk carousel of activities (teacher led). It is recognised that reading comprehension relies heavily on knowledge.  Our broad curriculum aides reading comprehension by ensuring that children gain the knowledge of the world in which they live and bring such knowledge to their reading. 

Reading for Pleasure

In KS1 and KS2 children have a designated weekly 'Reading for Pleasure session. This can be held in either our key stage libraries or our classrooms. During these sessions, children are invited to read a selection of library books on their own or with a friend and they then choose a book they would like to share with their families. Our KS2 librarians along with Mrs Anderson also suggest and recommend books in the KS2 lunchtime book club and our librarians and Reading Ambassador will be developing the recommendations of books from September. During this session teachers:

• Model being a reader themselves
• Enable time for children to talk about their reading so they can find ‘texts in common’ and recommend texts to each other.
• Support the children to find their next book.
• Provide time for children to be absorbed in their current read. 

Here are some of the ways we promote and celebrate reading across school:

READING CAFE MARCH 2023

On Friday 17th March, our Reception families were invited to our very first Reading Cafe before school. We had some yummy snacks and read some amazing books from our KS1 library with our families. Thank you to all our parents and grandparents who came to see us, it was a lovely morning. Special thanks to our Y6 girls who came to help out. Thank you for our newly appointed Reading Ambassadors for this wonderful idea, we are really looking forward to continuing these next year! Year 2 also enjoyed their Reading Cafe session in the Summer term and we are really looking forward to our next sessions in the next academic year.

Reading Ambassadors

Congratulations to our newly Appointed Reading Ambassadors! I really can't wait for your wonderful ideas to make reading in school even better! Thank you for all your hard work last year, the children really enjoyed listening to your home time stories and are already looking forward to the next sessions! Well done to you all! 

BOOK WEEK 2023

Well done to all our children and staff for their hard work for the past few weeks generating ideas and creating our class books. We certainly have some very talented authors and illustrators and it has been amazing to see such a buzz about English around school. I'm so impressed, well done and thank you again, I can't wait to read them. Check out our wonderful front covers, the QR code in the picture or the flyer that we sent home will take you to the link if you want to pre - order the books.

World Book Day 2023

We've had a great day celebrating World Book and children and staff have really enjoyed coming into school dressed as their favourite book characters. Many thanks to parents for all these fabulous designs and thank you to all staff for choosing such innovative costumes based on our staff theme of Julia Donaldson books. Everyone looked fabulous! We have all been very busy in classes too all week making our own class books. Keep your eyes peeled for the finished article! 

Congratulations to this year's winners:

• Reception - Max
• Year 1 - Jackson L
• Year 2 - Anna
• Year 3 - Holly
• Year 4 - Maxwell
• Year 5 - Tia
• Year 6 - Roxi

It really was a very tough decision because we all looked magnificent, check out our costumes!

At Holy Trinity, we love reading and we read as many books as we can when and wherever we can! Check out some of the weird, unusual and wonderful places we caught KS1 children reading during the Autumn half term break!

HOLY TRINITY READING JOURNEYS

Each class has produced a Reading Journey document that shows all the texts each class will read and study in the academic year, why we have chosen these books and how they build upon prior learning in previous years. Our teachers have taken inspiration from resources such as Pie Corbett's Reading Spine, Recommended reading lists for each year group alongside keeping up to date with reading forums. These Reading Journeys are a working document, and teachers may add to or replace books according to new recommendations or the interests of the class to help nurture and develop engaged and confident readers.

Writing

At Holy Trinity, We recognize the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

 We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

From Year 2 upwards, all classes complete daily Spelling specific lessons to revise prior learning, common exception words as well as providing opportunities for children to apply their knowledge of year specific spelling rules to help develop children into confident, independent writers. In Reception, Year 1 and 2, their spelling lessons are incorporated into their daily Twinkl Phonics teaching sequence and all KS2 classes follow the Spelling Shed scheme in their daily spelling lessons, as well as spending some time in these sessions revising and consolidating year specific Common Exception words.

 We understand that writing is an essential skill and that we must overcome any barriers that prevent children from becoming confident writers. 

 We aim to help our children develop these skills in the following ways:

• introducing and deconstructing a wide variety of model texts, covering a variety of genres
• by exposing and highlighting higher level vocabulary
• giving children opportunities to write for an authentic purpose • ensuring children have opportunities to talk about and plan their writing
• a solid understanding of grammar and ability to use it for effect • giving children opportunity to evaluate, revise and edit their own work as well as offer feedback on the work of their peers
• to be able to spell, not only the prescribed spelling words but also beyond, through the teaching of spelling rules
• take pride in their work and its presentation, including their handwriting

 We believe that these steps will provide children with the building blocks needed for successful writing at secondary school and beyond.

Here are our Writing Intent, Implementation and Impact statement and our Writing and Assessment policies:

Spelling Progression and Spelling Shed Progression documents:

Take a look at some of the lovely work we do in class, all based on fantastic and exciting texts!

Progression Maps

At Holy Trinity, staff have a clear knowledge of what the children need to be able to do within their year group, what they should have learnt the year before as well as what the next steps will be as they progress through school. These progression maps show the progression of skills across Reading, Phonics, Writing and Spelling:

Here are some useful documents that will help support you and your child's learning at home:

Useful websites to use to support learning at home

Link to Twinkl Go where you can access a wide range of ebooks matched to the phonics sessions being taught each week in class. Your class teacher will be sending home logins for extra apps within the Twinkl Go app during the first few weeks of the new term.

Twinkl Originals eBooks - Reading - Early Literacy - Parents

Other useful links:

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

 Free eBook library – practise reading with phonics eBooks | Oxford Owl

School closures: free online learning resources | Oxford Owl

Need Help? Start Here (twinkl.co.uk)

5 to 8 | National Literacy Trust

 Want to become a Super Speller? Check out these online games:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/spelling-and-grammar

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds

https://www.spellzone.com/word_lists/games-368726.htm

https://www.spellingcity.com/spelling-games-vocabulary-games.html

https://www.education.com/games/spelling/

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-spelling/

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/literacy/

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/interactive/literacy.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zt62mnb

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zcgv39q

https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-word-worm

https://www.arkadium.com/free-online-games/spelling/