Reading Intent

At Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery School, we aim to provide our children with the necessary skills to develop their knowledge and wider experiences.  We recognise that reading and writing are fundamental parts of lifelong learning and therefore our staff strive to promote these skills in everything that they do.

Within English, children will develop their oracy skills, learn how to read and expand their vocabulary, developing and applying their knowledge, skills and understanding to writing across the curriculum.

The English Overviews (see attachments below) show the links between our reading, writing and the wider curriculum and are used to support teaching and show progression. The reading spines are carefully selected to support the wider curriculum and the diversity of our community, together with supporting children to learn about different cultures, geographically and historically.

Reading:

In line with the whole school, our reading vision is to enable children to thrive in their reading so they can read any text with fluency and accuracy. It is also our mission to make reading accessible and enjoyable - giving children an escape to a land of awe and wonder that will in turn inspire and develop their writing. 

During their early years, children are taught how to read using synthetic phonics.  At Brierley Forest, we use the Read Write Inc. approach. This is a DfE validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) teaching programme used in more than 5,000 schools across the UK. It is a whole-school approach to phonics that provides comprehension, handwriting, spelling and composition to get children reading, writing and speaking fluently. All children in EYFS and KS1 receive daily phonic sessions, where they are taught the necessary skills they require. Have a look at the Phonics tab on the curriculum page for film clips and more information about this programme. 

Reading fluency and accuracy is vital in helping children to comprehend. In KS2 at Brierley Forest, we use the Repeated Oral Reading approach (adapted from Edale Rise Primary and Nursery School). Children hear the reading modelled by an adult, rehearsing tricking words and learning word meaning. In pairs, they then read the same piece of text to each other several times until they are reading fluently and accurately. This approach mirrors that of the reading of books following the Read Write Inc. programme. Repeated Oral Reading takes place daily in reading lessons, but also when reading across the curriculum. 

Reading comprehension is developed through the Read Write Inc programme for our early readers, and by using the Literacy Shed + VIPERS approach in KS2. VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. VIPERS stands for: Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarise or sequence. 

Whilst completing VIPERS tasks, children are expected to take part in discussions about the text that they are reading. They are encouraged to question and challenge each other to build their own knowledge and understanding.

Reading for Pleasure: Children at BFPNS enjoy their reading. For more information, please refer to the Reading for Pleasure page under the Personal Development tab.