St Pius X Catholic Primary School

'Restore all things in Christ'

01229 828406

admin@st-piusx.cumbria.sch.uk

Schneider Road, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 4AA

Reading

Subject Leader - Mrs Kerry Ward

Reading Curriculum Intent statement

At St. Pius X we believe in a broad and balanced curriculum. Reading is at the heart of everything we do. Our ambitious Reading curriculum fulfils the National Curriculum requirements and we use the VIPERS scheme  as a tool to help us deliver the objectives. The scheme of work is coherently planned, sequenced and has rigorous progression to enable children to reach their full potential as readers and gain the knowledge and skills required to allow pupils to succeed in life. Our skills progression allows teaching and learning of Reading to be easily adapted to meet the needs of all our pupils. Reading is essential to all subjects of the curriculum and without this skill, pupils' learning is much impoverished. As a Catholic school, our faith underpins our key teachings and pupils learn the importance of this. Our core Gospel Values are golden threads throughout all our teaching and learning. We approach every area of the curriculum with this in mind. This includes Reading. We are dedicated to developing a love of reading in its many forms, in our pupils. This approach helps to expand our pupils' social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. Our Reading curriculum not only develops our pupils educationally, but we plan in experiences to develop our children's cultural capital such as special events like World Book Day, fun events and challenges dedicated to this subject and visits from authors to raise the profile of this subject. We believe that all adults needs to be role models for pupils to promote reading, therefore we involve the whole family in many of our reading approaches and events.

We know that to be the best we can be, we need to be the best readers we can be! We believe that learning to read is the most essential of the basic skills that need to be acquired during the Primary School years. Reading and communication are both key life skills. The ability to fluently read enables children to decode and understand written messages in and beyond school. It allows children to access the wider curriculum and to enjoy a wealth of literature. Through the enjoyment of stories, poetry, drama and non-fiction texts children are able to discover for themselves a love of reading and a world of ideas and experiences. 

"...Just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul."   Pope John XXIII

Through the Reading curriculum, we aim to help children to develop the knowledge and skills that will enable them to fully decode words, not as single units, but as part of a prosodic approach to reading, leading to an understanding of all written forms.

We aim for all children to foster a love of and enthusiasm for reading. Our vision is that all children become confident, fluent readers, with an understanding of a variety of texts and genres. We aim for all children to develop an interest in books and to read for enjoyment. Reading is a skill, which pupils only have to learn once and it is theirs for the rest of their lives.

Please also see the Phonics section of the website, as phonics form the fundemental building blocks of learning to read.

Whole School Reading and Poetry Spine

Long Term Plan

National Curriculum Coverage

Name
 PRIMARY National Curriculum - English.pdfDownload
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Progression

Assessment

At St Pius X (from Spring 2021) we use PIRA Online to assess reading. The online assessments will allow us to assess understanding, identify knowledge gaps and deliver targeted individual & group intervention activities for the areas of weakness demonstrated in our pupils' diagnostic test results in 3 simple steps: 1. Assess (PIRA & PUMA), 2. Identify knowledge gaps (MARK), 3. Intervene and improve (Shine). Children will complete the assessments termly on their iPads.

Information for Parents

Reading at Home

At St Pius X we actively encourage reading at home. Asking your child questions while reading their book will give them a greater understanding of what they are reading. If possible we ask that a brief comment is left in their reading record, especially if questioning has taken place. 

Please see below for example questions that you may wish to use with your child at home:

Reading Matters

Have you heard your child read this week?

The most important thing you can do with your child is read to them and listen to them read. This applies to all year groups. It is beneficial for our older children to read aloud to other people too. #readingmatters