Phonics and Reading

Intent, Implementation & Impact Statement for Reading

Intent

 At Kings Norton Junior and Infant School, we believe in developing children to become confident and competent readers, writers and speakers, who take pleasure and enjoyment in their literary journey throughout school and beyond.

We are passionate about providing children with a strong foundation from reception, which will enable them to make steady progress in all three areas of English. Learning is progressive, enjoyable and consistent, building on skills and allowing children to use these skills in all areas of the curriculum. 

At Kings Norton Junior and Infant School, we recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where reading, writing and speaking are highly valued and time is given to develop these skills, both in school and supported at home. 

We believe that reading should be both informative and pleasurable, allowing children to communicate and understand their community, well being and support innovation.

Implementation

Reading is at the core of our curriculum, with books and poems forming the basis for our reading, writing and speaking lessons. Where appropriate, quality texts link to other areas of the curriculum and encourage children to develop writing skills from accomplished authors, from both our modern and literary heritage.

Reading for pleasure is valued across the school, and is supported through daily reading, comfortable, organised reading spaces, initiatives such as ‘Author of the Month’ and a reading reward scheme. Children are invited to discuss and question books, put them into historical and cultural contexts and recommend texts to their peers.

In addition, throughout the school year our English curriculum is enhanced through World Book Day, book fairs, local library visits and a range of trips which enrich and complement children’s learning.

To ensure children are given the best start on their reading journey, at Kings Norton Junior and Infant School we adopt the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised scheme for phonics and reading in KS1. All staff working at King Norton Junior and Infant School have been trained in this system, so consistency and fluidity between year groups is developing at a rapid pace.

In daily practice, teachers plan and teach English lessons which are adapted to the particular needs of each child, although ensuring that they are also exposing all children to high quality texts and discussions. Once we have equipped children with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need in writing, we encourage children to be independent writers. This includes opportunities for editing and sharing work with their peers.

We run parent information sessions on phonics for Year 1 parents, reading and these sessions are always very well attended by parents and carers who often comment about how helpful the sessions have been for them. 

Impact

The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills. Reading is clearly valued from both students and teachers, which is evident through our successful book fairs and enthusiastic library visits. Children speak highly of reading and show a good attitude towards reading lessons.

Literacy initiatives such as Little Wandle will help to boost children’s learning and progress in areas of reading, phonics and writing. As all staff have been trained, consistency and lack of cognitive overload will provide good outcomes for our children. This also transfers to home learning, as books are closely matched to our scheme and focus on decodable texts until the end of Year 1.

We hope that providing a rich literary environment, that we encourage children to become lifelong lovers of reading and writing. The Reading for Pleasure project, overseen by the Open University in 2022-2023, has supported this value in reading and has had a considerable impact on children’s attitudes to reading. Reading results have also improved across the school and children in Year 6 showed results above the National average in their year 6 SATs for reading.