Intent

Reading

 

“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book yet.”
– J K Rowling

 

At St John Fisher, we are passionate about books and our aim is to create life-long, enthusiastic readers through selecting high-quality books and poems by compelling authors. Our shared reading lessons are based on texts that have been carefully selected to provide interest, challenge and variety. In these lessons, children will read and discuss a wide range of fiction genres and poetry, increasing their familiarity with myths, legends, traditional stories, modern fiction and books from other cultures and traditions. In addition to a wide range of fiction, there is also a strong focus on non-fiction texts and the development of skills needed to access and extract information effectively, as well as developing technical and subject-specific vocabulary. 

In Shared Reading lessons, the teacher models how to read aloud with fluency and expression. Children will read out aloud the same text in pairs or through echo and choral reading to enhance their expression and awareness of punctuation. Children are encouraged to discuss the reading and give their opinions. By Year 6, children are encouraged to voice their understanding without hands up to create a culture where they feel confident to agree, disagree and elaborate on input from their peers. As well as this, children are provided with thoughtful reading comprehension exercises to enhance their inference, prediction, summarisation and retrieval skills. Children are taught how to justify their thoughts coherently by providing evidence from the text.

Accelerated Reader and our new library!

We use the Accelerated Reader program to track reading progress and attainment. Children complete an online Star reading test every term which generates their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). Pupils can then choose a library book from within this range. On completing books, children take a short comprehension quiz and aim to score 85% or above.

Our new library, funded in conjunction with our fantastic PTA, is now home to hundreds of books suitable for all age groups and carefully organised according to our Accelerated Reader program. This allows children to find a book easily. Our Year 5 librarians are at hand at lunchtimes to help children to choose from a wide-variety of reading material. Our junior librarians also help to maintain a neat and welcoming space throughout the week.

Reading is exciting at our school, with our friendly school dog Luna coming to visit our Year 3 children in the library each week. Pupils are given an opportunity to read to Luna in small groups. Our soft cushion areas give children a place to read in pairs and share ideas. 

Our Junior Librarians

St John Fisher Catholic School Library

Our new library, funded by the PTA, is now open for use with a wide selection of books on offer all arranged according to our Accelerated Reader levels.

 

Home Reading

Phonics

We follow the Government approved, systematic synthetic phonics program: Read Write Inc for our phonics teaching. Sessions run in small groups where children are taught to recognise sounds, read decodable green words, red tricky words and alien words. They then practise spelling these words and writing them down. Children are taught to apply their phonics skills and improve fluency through the Read Write Inc story books used during these sessions.

All staff receive training and regular coaching updates to ensure continuity and high levels of staff confidence in delivering these sessions.

Further information on our Phonics program can be found on our Phonics page.

Children progress through the reading levels in line with our phonics program and this is closely tracked. Once children have completed our phonics program, they move onto the Accelerated Reader program which supports teachers to match them on the correct level book whilst also tracking their comprehension of what they read through AR quizzes. Once on the Accelerated Reader program, children earn points for reading different books and are rewarded when they hit their targets.

KS2 Independent Readers

The data from Accelerated Reader guides pupils to choose texts that they can read and enjoy independently. The school library has been organised in a way that supports children in finding books that are "just right" for them. On completing books, children take a short comprehension quiz and aim to score 85% or more. Teaching Assistants support children in their reading on a regular basis to improve comprehension scores. Shared reading lessons teach skills that help children identify keywords; to read around the keyword and to look up new vocabulary; and to read sentences more than once to improve understanding as well as fluency. Targeted support is key to reading development. 

Teachers, parents and pupils record children's reading practise in our reading diaries, which is also a form of home-school communication. 

How do I determine if a book is the right level for my child?

You can use https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/ to check the level of a book that your child has chosen to read. Check against your child's ZPDs and the book's BL. See instructions below:

determine ar levels.pdf

 

Writing

We are following the Essential Writing units to plan our English lessons. These have been written and developed by English advisors at Herts for Learning. The plans give children purposeful and inspiring stimuli for writing as well as aspirational models to learn from. Lessons have a focus on grammar and punctuation alongside well planned activities which enable children to gain the knowledge, skills, vocabulary and experiences required to become masterful, creative and passionate writers. Handwriting and spelling, which are taught in short discrete sessions, are another focus within the English curriculum. 

Children often volunteer to read out their written work to their peers, creating a positive culture for writing. Each class has a working wall where the children's ideas and shared writing is displayed from lessons. 

In KS2, children will be prompted to reflect on their writing and consider how to edit successfully. Purple pen editing is an important part of our lessons where children feel comfortable to enhance their work in a purple pen. Teachers give whole class feedback and individual feedback in children's books. The marking code is shared with children and displayed in the classroom.

Letter Join

Letter Join is used across the school to maintain and improve handwriting as children progress through the school.

Essential Spellings

Our spelling pathway is based on our Essential Spelling program, enabling teachers to teach spellings systematically. There is a focus on statutory spelling words given as part of our weekly spelling homework in KS2. When children cannot spell a word, teaching assistants and teachers will prompt children to use their phonetic knowledge and encourage them to look up words in a dictionary.

Special events such as World Book Day, poetry competitions and our year 6 end of school production have all enriched our love of reading, writing and performing literature. The Year 6 performance of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens in 2023 and Robin Hood in 2024 were spectacular! What will Year 6 perform in July 2025?

 Inclusion

At St John Fisher, all children are included in every English lessons. Work is sometimes adapted to make it accessible for a child. It is our aim for all children to feel proud of their progress and achievements in English.

 

Speaking

Children are encouraged to regularly contribute in class discussions in all subjects and partner-talk is a key feature of all our lessons. Our aim is to develop understanding of any concept through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas which is modelled by our teachers.

Our English curriculum in upper KS2 includes delivering persuasive speeches with an appropriate register.  When modelled by the teacher, children will be encouraged to articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions. Often in upper key stage 2, class discussions can organically evolve into debates where children maturely consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others.

We love to create a positive culture where children's opinions are always valued and praised. Our School Council speeches and presentations, as well as our weekly Acts of Worship, provide cyclical opportunities for all children to maintain the attention of the class and participate actively in collaborative conversations, whilst staying on topic and responding to comments. Monitoring the interest of their listeners is an important part of any presentation and children are encouraged to reflect on their performances, thinking of at least one way to improve.

In English lessons, question openers encourage children to answer questions to extend their knowledge and understanding. 

Impact

The impact of our English curriculum is a community of enthusiastic readers and writers, who enjoy showcasing their developing literacy knowledge and skills. Children are confident when encountering new vocabulary in their reading, and including it in their writing. Pupils support one another in their discussions and peer-review each other’s work,  leading to collaborative conversations. Outcomes of work in both English and other books evidence the high expectations of written work. Children write successfully across a range of forms and adapt their writing, considering the purpose and audience.

Attainment at the end of KS2 in reading and writing is currently above that of Hertfordshire and the National Average.