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Reading & Early Reading

Reading at Lapford Community Primary School

At Lapford Community Primary School we believe that speaking, listening, reading and writing are fundamental life skills, which enable children to communicate effectively and equips them for the challenges they will face in the wider world.

Lapford Community Primary School - Intent for Reading

At Lapford Community Primary School we are determined that: 

  • Every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities.
  • All pupils, including those who find reading more difficult, will make good progress and are supported to meet age-related expectations.
  • Children are able to develop vocabulary, language comprehension, and a love of reading through stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction texts.
  • Children are familiar with, and enjoy listening to, a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction texts.
  • Children will read in school daily - this might be in a guided group, 1:1 with an adult or during whole class teaching.
  • Lapford Community Primary School’s phonics programme matches or exceeds the expectations of the national curriculum and the Early Learning Goals.
  • Lapford Community Primary School staff have clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress term by term, from Reception to Year 2.
  • The sequence of reading books shows cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to the school’s 'Bug Club' phonics programme.
  • Teachers will give pupils sufficient practice in reading and re-reading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both in school and at home. Children will read the same book at least three times in order to build fluency and confidence. They will read the book for the first time with their teacher or TA at school before taking this book home.
  • Pre-reading skills such as listening to environmental sounds, developing a love of stories, oral blending and rhyme are taught from the pre-school year. We believe children should be exposed to a range of stories and rhymes that become familiar to them (fairy tales, favourite storybooks and nursery rhymes).
  • Reading, including the teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics, is taught from the beginning of Reception following the ‘Bug Club’ phonics scheme.
  • Ongoing assessment of pupils’ phonics progress is sufficiently frequent and detailed to identify any pupil who is falling behind the programme’s pace. If they do fall behind, targeted support is given immediately.
  • From Year 2, children are assessed regularly using the ‘PM benchmarking’ system to ensure they are reading books at an appropriate level and are being sufficiently challenged.
  • Lapford Community Primary School staff have developed sufficient expertise in the teaching of phonics and reading.