Reading at Parochial
'Parochial Cares', our mission is to prepare children for the future by living, learning and growing together in God.
To live life... life in all its fullness (John 10:10)
Reading curriculum handbook available upon request:
Vision:
At Parochial, we aim to provide pupils with the chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. Through the development of both word reading and comprehension, we provide the foundations of lifelong learners.
Implementation:
At Parochial we are:
Educating for Wisdom, knowledge and skills in Reading through the development of both word reading and comprehension skills. Starting in EYFS, our robust systematic teaching of phonics through the Read Write Inc. programme provides children to become accurate, fluent and expressive readers by the end of KS1. Progressively, the Talk4Reading KS2 programme builds on that which the children have learnt in KS1, allowing for a thorough exploration of a wide range of quality texts within KS2.
Throughout a pupil’s career at Parochial, they will also be exposed to a range of life ‘experiences and opportunities’ to ensure children have the wisdom and the ‘cultural capital’ in order to understand a range of texts, themes and settings.
Educating for hope and aspiration through Reading by immersing children in a well-planned text spine. Through the text spine, pupils will be exposed to a range of aspirational authors, characters and themes from a range of diverse backgrounds. The teaching of reading is always supported by ambitious and quality text choices, placing great literature at the heart of every lesson. In addition, reading is modelled to a high quality through the use of ‘my turn, your turn’ and choral reading modelling techniques.
Educating for community and living well together by celebrating our love of books as a whole school. Many community gatherings at Parochial are centred on, or indeed, to celebrate books. Each year, World Book Day is celebrated as a whole. In addition, class, key stage or whole school worship is often focussed on a high quality book for the purposes of reflection.
The class novels that are shared during story time create a unified love for longer text. In reading a longer text over a period of time, the cohorts as a whole travel the journey of a book together.
In addition, communal reading is celebrated in other areas of school life. Partner reading is well within Read Write Inc and IREAD. Children read alongside one another daily, learning to become a ‘critical friend’ from EYFS.
Educating for dignity and respect by developing emotionally through our responses to different texts. Reading provides us with a wealth of experiences beyond that of our capabilities. In engaging with a range of books, children are able to develop their own emotional intelligence to respond with empathy and compassion. Reading provides our children with a knowledge of themselves and the world around them which enables them to develop their thinking about living a life with dignity and respect.
Impact:
Through the teaching of systematic phonics, out children become fluent and confident word readers by the end of KS1. By the time children leave Parochial, they are fluent, confident readers who have a thirst for reading a range of genres, including poetry. Our pupils can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as use their reading skills to unlock learning of all areas of the curriculum.