All children will leave Brampton Primary Academy as fluent, avid, life-long readers with a love and respect for a wide range of literature, both contemporary and from the children’s literary canon. At the heart of Brampton’s reading implementation is evidence informed practice. Great care is being taken, at Brampton, to nurture a love of reading and promote fluency.

Phonics

Brampton teaches children to read using the systematic synthetic phonics programme Read Write Inc. Read Write Inc. is a highly successful programme that teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form letters when writing. Careful assessment ensures that at home and at school the children read books that are well matched to their phonics knowledge. The children take one Read Write Inc Book Bag Book home with them each week. The children should read this book every day at home to improve fluency and promote comprehension.

At least every half term, the children's phonics knowledge is tested using Read Write Inc. assessments. After every half termly assessment, parents and carers receive a short phonics report, which details their child’s progress and shares what their target is.  Based on these assessments, the children are set into phonics groups that will consolidate their current knowledge and challenge them to secure new learning. Phonics is taught every day and begins early in September for Reception, Year One and Year Two.

When children in Reception, Year One and Year Two complete the phonics programme, they are moved into the ‘off scheme’ group. In this group, the children continue to learn to read- listening to, reading and discussing high quality texts using Brampton’s REAL Reading approach.

REAL Reading

REAL Reading is a systematic approach to the teaching of reading, one that promotes fluency. REAL Reading is taught in all year groups across the school. Scientific research has consistently recognised the critical nature of fluency as a bridge between effortful decoding and comprehension. REAL reading is structured to promote fluency: expert modelling of reading aloud, assisted reading (echo and choral reading),and opportunities of repeated reading.

Children in Reception begin REAL Reading in the Summer term.  REAL Reading is an approach to the teaching of reading that promotes fluency and comprehension. REAL Reading is taught most days or every day. The anacronym REAL describes the tenets of fluency: rate, expression, accuracy (and listening).

Children learn to read challenging, high quality texts that would otherwise be inaccessible, or less accessible, to them. To begin with, the adult models how to read the text expertly during the Teacher Read phase. Secondly, the children echo the teacher’s expert model, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, or groups of sentences by groups of sentences, during the Echo Read phase. Following this, the children read the text chorally, during the Choral Read Phase. After this, the children read the text to their partner, during the Partner Read phase. The children may then perform the text. At the end of this process, the children should be able to read the text expertly, with excellent rate, expression and accuracy.

After the daily teacher read, echo read, choral read, partner read or performance read, the children develop their reading skills through explicit teaching.

STAR Reading

Once a child has completed Read Write Inc., instead of their half-termly Read Write Assessments they sit STAR Reading Tests.

When children complete the Read Write Inc programme they will continue to read books that are very well matched to their reading level. Every child who has completed the Read Write Inc phonics programme, or who is near completion, sits a STAR Reading test every half term.

Star Reading is a digital, diagnostic programme that assesses reading. STAR Reading’s diagnostics identify children’s reading ages, gives them a standardised score, and creates in-depth reports that identify which areas of reading practise need to be developed. Class teachers use these reports to inform their planning and promote rapid progress.

STAR reading provides the children with their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). The ZPD is given as a range, between two decimal numbers. Children choose books to read, from our school library, within their ZPD range. Their ZPD range provides the right level of challenge, which aids comprehension, and promotes reading for pleasure.

Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader motivates, monitors, and manages children’s independent reading practice. Children read books matched to their ZPD. After reading each book, the children’s reading practice is assessed through low stakes Accelerated Reader quizzes. These quizzes build a diagnostic picture for teachers. Detailed reports share how often children are reading at home and for how long, how well children are comprehending what they read and provides detailed reports about each child’ reading practice. The children are motivated to earn points. The more books the children read, or the more complex the books are that the children read, the more points they earn.

Intervention

If a child in Reception is identified as at risk of falling behind, this child is targeted throughout the day with additional phonics support. Most children in Year One and Two, who are identified as working towards the expected standard in reading, will be invited to morning phonics intervention four times a week, Monday to Thursday. If there are any children in KS2, who have not yet completed Read Write Inc., they will also be invited to morning intervention.

These interventions are designed specifically to meet the needs of the individual child. These interventions will run for at least half a term and will continue to run until the child has met age related expectations.

Reading Spine

Brampton Primary Academy has a carefully selected reading spine. The reading spine satisfies all elements of the National Curriculum for reading. The reading spine has also been meticulously chosen to satisfy six important criteria: archaic texts, non-linear time sequences, complexity of narrator, complexity of plot, resistant text, experience of the word. Children need experience of these five types of test in order to be able to navigate reading with confidence (archaic texts, non-linear time sequences, complexity of narrator, complexity of plot, resistant text). These texts are complex beyond a lexical level and demand more from the reader than other types of books. Each year the children will read and listen to the set texts for their specific year group. These text’s complexity develops each year, within each of the six criteria.

Library

Brampton Primary Academy has a warm and welcoming library space. Every week, each class visits the school library to enjoy story time or to choose a new home reading book, if they need. A few days a week, the library is open at lunchtime. Brampton’s Reading Leaders promote reading for pleasure, suggest books that children should read and tend to the upkeep of the space.

Pupil Leadership- Reading Leaders

One child from each class, in Years Three to Six is chosen as a reading leading. The reading leaders help promote reading for pleasure in the school. They share books with the younger children, liaise with the local library, tend the library, and promote reading projects within the school.

Reading Records

Children are expected to read at home every day. Parents and carers should write in their child’s reading record every day, including a brief comment detailing what the child read, what went well and their target, if one was identified. Brampton staff will write in children’s reading records at least once fortnightly. If a child has been identified as working towards age related expectations, then an adult will read, and write in their reading record, most days.

World Book Day

Every year Brampton celebrates World Book Day. Each year, a high-quality text is chosen as a focus for the celebrations. Assemblies, workshops, activities, and lessons are planned around the focus text. The children and adults are invited to dress up as their favourite book character and take part in a writing competition. Adults across the school share their favourite books and poems with children from different year groups, in our World Book Day teacher swap.