Reading at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School 

 At St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, we strive to promote high standards of English which equip each child with a strong command of the spoken and written word,   and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We hold high expectations for all of our pupils and strive to inspire a love of reading   and language which encourages our children to become life-long readers. We believe, reading feeds pupils’ imaginations and opens their minds to a land of wonder and   curiosity. It is our aim, that by the end of St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, the children have been exposed to and engaged with a wide range of literature and are able   to read fluently and with confidence.

  • To develop positive attitude to reading that ensure reading is an enjoyable and meaningful experience.
  • To develop a habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
  • Acquire a wide range of vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions through reading a wide range of texts and genres.
  • To experience a wide range of rich and varied literature.
  • To enable all children’s comprehension skills to develop through ensuring experiences with high-quality texts and discussions with teachers through a range of genres including: fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
  • To be able to read widely to gain knowledge across the curriculum developing children’s knowledge about the world around them.
  • To be able to read and critically appreciate a variety of texts, both orally and recorded.
  • To develop reading strategies which allow children to search for meaning within a text.
  • Read and respond to a variety of texts whilst developing an increased level of fluency and independence.
  • To enable children to read silently and aloud for increasingly sustained periods.

Intent 

At St Nicholas we are committed to providing a curriculum for all where every child grows: 

  • Academically 
  • Socially 
  • Morally 
  • In aspiration 
  • To be prepared for the next phase in their academic journey and be spiritually nourished. 

To achieve excellence in all that they do in the knowledge that we love one another as God loves you. 

Teaching and Learning of Reading 

 Reading is one of our main priorities at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School. It is a skill which underpins a child’s abilities to access the wider curriculum and allows them to   broaden their vocabulary and develop vivid imaginations. To ensure all pupils are given the best opportunity to succeed, we ensure that pupils are given daily teaching of   reading that build on fluency and comprehension skills.

 

Read Write Inc 

“If pupils cannot read, they will not be able to access the curriculum, and will be disadvantaged for life” Research for EIF framework, p20, 2019

As a core curriculum subject, English is a priority at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School. We encourage children to become resilient readers and confident communicators and reading is prioritised to enable all children to access the curriculum.

Our consistent and rigorous approach to teaching early reading enables children to master the key skills that research suggests is important early on.

To do this, we follow the Read Write Inc. programme; this sets out a sequence of lessons that teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They also learn to form each letter, spell correctly and compose their ideas step-by-step.

Your child will:

  • Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple prompts.
  • Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk) e.g. c-a-t = cat, sh-o-p = shop.
  • Read ‘red words’ these are words that have less common spelling patterns.
  • Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out.
  • Show that they comprehend the stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It'.

For more information about how we teach Phonics, take a look at our Phonics website page. 

What does Reading look like at St Nicholas?

 

Reading VIPERS

Reading is taught through the use of targeted questioning (VIPERS) which focus on reading for meaning – teaching specific comprehension skills. VIPERS are integral throughout our English curriculum and feeds in to daily whole class guided reading sessions and weekly comprehension lessons. Children are also given opportunities for reading for pleasure within the classroom and in weekly visits to the schools lending library.

 

Key Stage One Talk Through Stories 

As part of Read Write Inc, Key Stage One develop a love of stories and vocabulary through our teaching of Talk Through Stories. The aims within these sessions are to provide children with the breadth and depth of vocabulary in order for them to understand the books they will soon read independently. These session aim to encourage high quality conversations and discussions about books with teachers and peers and develop a love of reading.

 

Key Stage Two ERIC Sessions 

ERIC (Everyone Reading in Class) reading sessions equips pupils with the necessary skills to be successful readers. They focus on building fluency and embedding comprehension skills, whilst also encouraging a love of reading and exposing learners to a wide range of texts, including classic literature, modern fictions and Shakespeare. Children participate in daily whole class reading sessions – a list of our ERIC novels is listed below.

ERIC sessions incorporate a mixture of the teacher reading to the learner as well as opportunities for every child to read aloud. Throughout the session, discussions are held about the book using the VIPER format to ask targeted questioning.

ERIC Long Term Plan

 

Vocabulary Ninjas 

Vocabulary is a fundamental aim of our English and wider curriculum. Explicit and engaging vocabulary teaching has the power to promote independence in learners, ignite imaginations, deliver understanding and raise education standards in schools. Vocabulary Ninjas encourages the explicit teaching of vocabulary across the curriculum and throughout the reading curriculum in a fun and exciting way.

 

Comprehension Lesson 

Comprehension lessons are taught weekly. They have a clear learning outcome and specific, age-appropriate reading skills, taken directly from the National Curriculum. Comprehension lessons aim to develop skills in:

  • Vocabulary,
  • Fluency and expression,
  • Explicitly taught VIPERS skills.
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St Nicholas Loves Reading 

 

At St Nicholas, we strive to create a love of reading and literature throughout our reading curriculum. Take a look below to see  the fun we have been up to across our reading curriculum!

World Nursey Rhyme Week

At St Nicholas, we understand the importance of nursery rhymes in the early  development of our children and their education. Nursery Rhymes host a wealth of benefits including: boosting vocabulary and language development, helping to improve both literacy and mathematical skills and helping our children to develop social, physical and emotional skills.

Nursey Rhymes are built into our curriculum, however we loved celebrating this extra special week in Reception and Key Stage One. 

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National Story Telling Week 

To mark National Story Telling Week, we had a fun-filled week of story telling activities. Throughout the week, we invited parents in as our 'Secret Readers' to read to the children in their child's class. We finished the week with an exciting pyjama themed day, where we brought in our favourite bedtime stories and shared them with our classes!

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Waterstones Trip 

Miss McBride took a group of children to Waterstones to choose some new books for our class libraries! We had a fantastic time and  picked some exciting and interesting books to read. We loved sharing them with all the children in our class and love to read them in our class reading areas. 

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A Love of Reading 

St Nicholas Reading Café 

We have loved having the parents in to join us at the St Nicholas Reading Café. We will be hosting these every half term. It is fantastic to see so many parents come and enjoy a book with their children! 

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The Secret Reader 

Parents Stay and Read 

We love inviting our children's parents in to school regularly to enjoy reading a story with their child!

World Book Day 

St Nicholas Reading Café 

We browsed the new books our peers bought for us in Waterstones at the reading café, led by the Year 6 librarians! We had a wonderful afternoon reading our new books with juice and biscuits. 

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Our Favourite Books 

Reading at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School 

 At St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, we strive to promote high standards of English which equip each child with a strong command of the spoken and written word,   and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We hold high expectations for all of our pupils and strive to inspire a love of reading   and language which encourages our children to become life-long readers. We believe, reading feeds pupils’ imaginations and opens their minds to a land of wonder and   curiosity. It is our aim, that by the end of St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, the children have been exposed to and engaged with a wide range of literature and are able   to read fluently and with confidence.

  • To develop positive attitude to reading that ensure reading is an enjoyable and meaningful experience.
  • To develop a habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
  • Acquire a wide range of vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions through reading a wide range of texts and genres.
  • To experience a wide range of rich and varied literature.
  • To enable all children’s comprehension skills to develop through ensuring experiences with high-quality texts and discussions with teachers through a range of genres including: fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
  • To be able to read widely to gain knowledge across the curriculum developing children’s knowledge about the world around them.
  • To be able to read and critically appreciate a variety of texts, both orally and recorded.
  • To develop reading strategies which allow children to search for meaning within a text.
  • Read and respond to a variety of texts whilst developing an increased level of fluency and independence.
  • To enable children to read silently and aloud for increasingly sustained periods.

Intent 

At St Nicholas we are committed to providing a curriculum for all where every child grows: 

  • Academically 
  • Socially 
  • Morally 
  • In aspiration 
  • To be prepared for the next phase in their academic journey and be spiritually nourished. 

To achieve excellence in all that they do in the knowledge that we love one another as God loves you. 

Teaching and Learning of Reading 

 Reading is one of our main priorities at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School. It is a skill which underpins a child’s abilities to access the wider curriculum and allows them to   broaden their vocabulary and develop vivid imaginations. To ensure all pupils are given the best opportunity to succeed, we ensure that pupils are given daily teaching of   reading that build on fluency and comprehension skills.

 

Read Write Inc 

“If pupils cannot read, they will not be able to access the curriculum, and will be disadvantaged for life” Research for EIF framework, p20, 2019

As a core curriculum subject, English is a priority at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School. We encourage children to become resilient readers and confident communicators and reading is prioritised to enable all children to access the curriculum.

Our consistent and rigorous approach to teaching early reading enables children to master the key skills that research suggests is important early on.

To do this, we follow the Read Write Inc. programme; this sets out a sequence of lessons that teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They also learn to form each letter, spell correctly and compose their ideas step-by-step.

Your child will:

  • Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple prompts.
  • Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk) e.g. c-a-t = cat, sh-o-p = shop.
  • Read ‘red words’ these are words that have less common spelling patterns.
  • Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out.
  • Show that they comprehend the stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It'.

For more information about how we teach Phonics, take a look at our Phonics website page. 

What does Reading look like at St Nicholas?

 

Reading VIPERS

Reading is taught through the use of targeted questioning (VIPERS) which focus on reading for meaning – teaching specific comprehension skills. VIPERS are integral throughout our English curriculum and feeds in to daily whole class guided reading sessions and weekly comprehension lessons. Children are also given opportunities for reading for pleasure within the classroom and in weekly visits to the schools lending library.

 

Key Stage One Talk Through Stories 

As part of Read Write Inc, Key Stage One develop a love of stories and vocabulary through our teaching of Talk Through Stories. The aims within these sessions are to provide children with the breadth and depth of vocabulary in order for them to understand the books they will soon read independently. These session aim to encourage high quality conversations and discussions about books with teachers and peers and develop a love of reading.

 

Key Stage Two ERIC Sessions 

ERIC (Everyone Reading in Class) reading sessions equips pupils with the necessary skills to be successful readers. They focus on building fluency and embedding comprehension skills, whilst also encouraging a love of reading and exposing learners to a wide range of texts, including classic literature, modern fictions and Shakespeare. Children participate in daily whole class reading sessions – a list of our ERIC novels is listed below.

ERIC sessions incorporate a mixture of the teacher reading to the learner as well as opportunities for every child to read aloud. Throughout the session, discussions are held about the book using the VIPER format to ask targeted questioning.

ERIC Long Term Plan

 

Vocabulary Ninjas 

Vocabulary is a fundamental aim of our English and wider curriculum. Explicit and engaging vocabulary teaching has the power to promote independence in learners, ignite imaginations, deliver understanding and raise education standards in schools. Vocabulary Ninjas encourages the explicit teaching of vocabulary across the curriculum and throughout the reading curriculum in a fun and exciting way.

 

Comprehension Lesson 

Comprehension lessons are taught weekly. They have a clear learning outcome and specific, age-appropriate reading skills, taken directly from the National Curriculum. Comprehension lessons aim to develop skills in:

  • Vocabulary,
  • Fluency and expression,
  • Explicitly taught VIPERS skills.
image

St Nicholas Loves Reading 

 

At St Nicholas, we strive to create a love of reading and literature throughout our reading curriculum. Take a look below to see  the fun we have been up to across our reading curriculum!

World Nursey Rhyme Week

At St Nicholas, we understand the importance of nursery rhymes in the early  development of our children and their education. Nursery Rhymes host a wealth of benefits including: boosting vocabulary and language development, helping to improve both literacy and mathematical skills and helping our children to develop social, physical and emotional skills.

Nursey Rhymes are built into our curriculum, however we loved celebrating this extra special week in Reception and Key Stage One. 

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National Story Telling Week 

To mark National Story Telling Week, we had a fun-filled week of story telling activities. Throughout the week, we invited parents in as our 'Secret Readers' to read to the children in their child's class. We finished the week with an exciting pyjama themed day, where we brought in our favourite bedtime stories and shared them with our classes!

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Waterstones Trip 

Miss McBride took a group of children to Waterstones to choose some new books for our class libraries! We had a fantastic time and  picked some exciting and interesting books to read. We loved sharing them with all the children in our class and love to read them in our class reading areas. 

image

A Love of Reading 

St Nicholas Reading Café 

We have loved having the parents in to join us at the St Nicholas Reading Café. We will be hosting these every half term. It is fantastic to see so many parents come and enjoy a book with their children! 

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The Secret Reader 

Parents Stay and Read 

We love inviting our children's parents in to school regularly to enjoy reading a story with their child!

World Book Day 

St Nicholas Reading Café 

We browsed the new books our peers bought for us in Waterstones at the reading café, led by the Year 6 librarians! We had a wonderful afternoon reading our new books with juice and biscuits. 

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Our Favourite Books