Reading
At St George’s, we endeavour to teach our children to not only become fluent,
comprehensive readers but to also instil a real love for reading; that pupils can take with
them into their adult lives. In order to achieve this, children from Nursery to Year 6 participate
in daily, age appropriate lessons, aimed to develop their abilities and enthusiasm for reading.
The progression throughout the school is as follows. However, it is important to note that
reading at St George’s does not simply occur in isolated lessons but is embedded in all that
we do.
Early Years, Year 1 and Early Year 2
In Reception and KS1, children are taught using RWI phonics; in groups best suited to
meet their individual needs. Within these sessions, pupils gain confidence in
recognising, blending and segmenting sounds; in order to read and spells words
independently. At the end of Year 1, Government guidance requires pupils to
complete a National Phonics Screening test.
Year 2
Our aim is that by the end of the Autumn term in Year 2, children will have achieved
the requirements of the RWI phonics scheme. However, we still have the capacity to
continue should any pupil need additional support. Children then progress to
developing their fluency and comprehension skills further. At the end of Year 2,
children across the country complete a SATs reading paper. This supports a teacher’s
judgement about whether a pupil has achieved age related expectations and, if
not, how we can further support our pupils in doing so.
End of Year 2 and beginning of Year 3
Following the success of RWI Phonics, we introduced RWI Comprehension. This
scheme enables children to make a smoother transition from simply reading words
to comprehending a piece of text.
KS2
In KS2, children in Years 4, 5 and 6 are introduced to a scheme called,
‘Comprehension X’ which allows them to progress from simply decoding a text, to
developing their comprehension skills.
Initially, children immerse themselves in a series of anthologies and use ‘Expert Tips’ in
order to draw out the real fundamentals of a text. The ‘Expert Tips’ can then be
applied to any text; so, within lessons, children will be given a ‘diet’ of high-quality
texts to analyse and enjoy with confidence.
Children in Year 6 are then required by the government to demonstrate reading
ability by completing a SAT paper.