At Meadow Green we want all of our children to develop a love of reading from their early phonics development through to independent fluent readers who can select texts and books to support their learning in other subjects and make choices based upon their enjoyment of a style or author.

At Meadow Green, we intend to…

- gain a lifelong enjoyment of reading

- apply a knowledge of structured synthetic phonics in order to decode unfamiliar words with increasing accuracy and speed

- encourage all pupils to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live

- establish an appreciation and love of reading

- gain knowledge across the curriculum and develop their comprehension skills

- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.

Reading underpins children’s access to the curriculum and it clearly impacts on their achievement. There is considerable research to show that children who enjoy reading and choose to read, benefit not only academically, but also socially and emotionally. Reading increases children’s vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Furthermore, children who read widely and frequently also have more secure general knowledge. It is our intention to ensure that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read accurately, fluently, with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.

In EYFS & Key Stage 1, there will be two types of reading book that children have access to each week:

A decodable reading practice book: This will be an appropriate decodable reading book matched to the child's secure Little Wandle phonic knowledge. They should be able to read this fluently and independently and will be a celebration of their learning in school.  They should be reading it with ease - children need to develop fluency and confidence in reading.  This could be an e-book from the Little Wandle Big Cat Collins e-library (see link below) or an actual book.

A sharing book: This is a book that children may not be able to read on their own, this book is for families to read and enjoy together. In order for our pupils to become a lifelong readers, it is important that they read for pleasure.  The sharing book is one they have chosen to share with their families.  We have encouraged that families discuss the pictures, enjoy the story and predict what might happen next, use different voices for characters and explore the facts in non-fiction books – this book is for families to read and share and have fun with.

In Key Stage 2, children can also bring home 2 books:

The book banding system that the children progress through at Meadow Green will begin once the children are secure with all the GPCs taught. Once the children are able to read all of the sounds securely, they will progress onto the book band system matched to their reading ability.

In addition to practising their independent reading with decodable books, it is vital that children experience a wide range of other quality children’s books.These books play an essential role in developing a love of reading. They can be shared or discussed, and provide a stimulus for other activities, including role play, music, art, dance, writing and storytelling. We are very lucky to have a range of non-fiction books to choose from for their free choice book.

Children are also able to access Oxford Owl online. These are online reading resources which children can access both at home and school. This means that all children have the opportunity to read a wide variety of books in a structured, challenging and progressive approach. The majority of children leave Meadow Green as confident, competent readers with a love of reading. 

Fluent decoding is only one component of reading. Comprehension skills need to be taught to enable children to make sense of what they read, build on what they already know and give them a desire to want to read. 

At Meadow Green we focus on the VIPERS. This is an acronym to aid the recall of the six reading domains as part of the reading curriculum. There are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts.

When looking at these areas, children experience a wide range of books, extracts, poetry and video clips to help them develop the skills through a variety of texts.

Summative assessments are carried out at the end of each half term and attainment is discussed with senior leaders in pupil progress meetings. We use end of half term assessments to help support our judgements. The information from these is then used to inform future teaching. Formative assessment takes place on a daily basis and teachers adjust planning accordingly to meet the needs of their class.  Attainment and outcomes in reading have a prominent focus throughout our school. Children at Meadow Green are motivated, enjoy reading, and demonstrate their understanding through end of block assessments.