Hallam Fields Junior School
Reading at Hallam Fields
How we teach reading
At Hallam Fields Junior School, we endeavour to foster a life-long love and enthusiasm for reading. We therefore plan and deliver a rich, diverse and quality reading curriculum, that exposes children to a variety of quality texts. Each text is carefully chosen, sometimes linked with a topic they are doing that week, and this forms the basis of reading lessons across the week. Across the week, the reading follows a similar structure throughout year 3 – 6, which allows children to go into depth with a quality text. Each day, time is given to having class discussions about the ‘Big’ question, which is usually an inference-style question, that will have more than one correct answer, allowing pupils to discuss using the ABC (Add to, Build on, Challenge) acronym.
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Echo Reading
Fluency is key to children progressing in reading, and comprises accuracy, automaticity and prosody. Once children have been immersed in their reading text on a Monday, pupils participate in echo reading each day, where the teacher models (sentence by sentence) how it should be read: using expression (prosody) and pausing where appropriate. This ensures children are taking meaning from the text, rather than just automatically and accurately reading the words. When you listen to your child read at home, encouraging your child to use expression is key to them understanding their book.
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Reading for pleasure
We prioritise reading for pleasure time for children, where they are able to choose a book and immerse themselves in this. This session, usually after lunch, is a chance for children to read aloud to an adult, discuss their book with their peers and share recommendations with each other.
Class novel time
We are passionate about developing a love for reading in our pupils at Hallam Fields, and it is so important children have time in a busy week to sit and listen to a story, read by their class teacher, every day. These are books that are not used for lessons, but solely for the enjoyment of reading. Ask your child what they are currently reading as a class!
Rapid Catch-Up Scheme
It is essential that pupils, whose decoding skills are not where we want them to be, are taught through a rigorous and systematic phonics programme to enable them to catch up with their peers in terms of their decoding. For the children who have gaps in their phonetic knowledge and decoding abilities, they will be given daily phonics interventions, using the Little Wandle Rapid Catch Up Scheme. Children work through phases 2, 3, and 4 in four weekly cycles, and phase 5 is a 14 week cycle. Children in these interventions are assessed every four weeks to check they are progressing, and gaps are then plugged for children not keeping up with the scheme. For children with special educational needs, they will follow the SEND Rapid Catch Up Scheme at a different pace.
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Reading Awards
At Hallam Fields, we want to excite children when it comes to reading. In order to foster this love for reading, we celebrate those children who take positive steps in their reading journeys.
On a weekly basis, we award those children who have stood out with their reading. This may be through their contributions to reading discussions, their focus on independent reading, their reading at home or their passion for a particular text. These children are selected by their teachers or their class’s reading ambassadors for a reading reward which is presented in Friday celebration assemblies.
To further boost the children’s enthusiasm for reading, we have implemented a half-termly and termly award for those children who read aloud to adults consistently. If a child reads 30 times to an adult over a half term, then they are awarded with a Book Worm certificate. If that child then reads a total of 60 times over the term, they are given a special reading experience.
In addition to this, we also put the names of those children who have read 3 times per week to an adult into a raffle. At the end of each half-term, a name is drawn from each year group and the winning child can select and order a brand-new book to take home.
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Book Corners
Our school provides classrooms with dedicated book corners, creating a cosy and quiet space where children can enjoy reading. These classroom libraries are stocked with a variety of books suited to all reading ages, allowing students to find engaging stories that match their interests. To keep our selection fresh and exciting, new books are ordered regularly, often based upon children’s requests, ensuring that students have access to the latest and most captivating reads.
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Author Visits
Author visits ensure that the children get to hear from authors about what inspires them to write and where they get their ideas from. These are very inspiring and there is always a real buzz amongst the children after author visits, not only about getting hold of the books but also from the children aspiring to be authors.โฏ
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Accelerated Reader
We use Accelerated Reader in school. โฏThis system is accessible once the children have graduated from the phonics scheme. โฏAll of our books in school are in the Accelerated Reader system. โฏYou will notice a number on the spine of the book and another quiz number at the back. โฏAfter an initial reading test, children are then given a ZPD range (Zone of Potential Development) this is the number on the front of the book. โฏThey choose books within this range and will take a reading ‘Quiz’ afterwards (this is the quiz number at the back of the book) which asks them questions about their understanding of the book. โฏChildren who achieve 100% in their quizzes are celebrated in class and receive tokens as rewards. โฏ
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Reading Ambassadors
Two children have been chosen from each class to be Reading Ambassadors. These children share the mission to get everyone in their class reaching (alongside their class teachers). Our ambassadors listen to children read aloud and practise their fluency in class. They also keep our book corners organised and tidy while helping children to find books which suit their reading age. When there are reading events happening in school, these children present PowerPoints to the class, and help to promote these. โโโ
Hallam Fields Library
We have had an exciting renovation of our library which gives the children a relaxing, quiet space to enjoy their reading. Designed as an enchanted forest, the shelves are filled with subject-specific books which can enhance the children’s learning in a comfortable environment.
How You Can Support Reading at Home
We create many opportunities within school for children to engage with reading.
Your child will bring home reading books that are closely matched to their current reading development. On the whole, these books will contain appropriate vocabulary and specific phonics sounds that they have been learning at school.
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Please support your child to read this bookโฏas independently as possible. Reading a book more than once will help them to practise their fluency. It is natural that children may come across words that they are unsure of and may need help to decode and sound these words out.
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Please support your child by reading these booksโฏto them orโฏsharing the reading together.
Take time to enjoy reading with your child and chat with them about the contents of the books they bring home. It’s useful to check their understanding by asking your child questions about what they’ve just read. Your comments in their school diaries help us to understand your child’s preferences, successes and challenges.
Here is some advice on how to encourage your children to read at home:
10 top tips to encourage children to read
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7 top tips to support reading at home
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