Reading at Wessex

We are passionate about ensuring every child is a reader by the time they leave primary school and we do this in a number of ways.

We put Reading at the core of our Curriculum at Wessex and try to inspire a reading for pleasure culture throughout the school. 

In KS1 we build on the Phonics knowledge that they have learned with reading sessions based on the children’s ability.  We also read class books linked to topics to inspire the children and extend their vocabulary and understanding of the wider world.   These sessions start to explore the VIPERS (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary/sequencing) 

In KS2 we continued to develop comprehension skills through looking at the VIPERS lessons.  We carefully select reading materials based on our topic.  It is very important for the children to have a good background knowledge enhance their understanding of what they are reading.  We try to cover a range of genres of fiction in addition to information texts and poetry, this supports our writing curriculum.  Reading sessions in KS2 also work on the children’s fluency and prosody following modelling from the teacher. 

At Wessex, we use Accelerated Reader to assess reading comprehension and to also ensure that the children are reading books appropriate to their reading level.  The children are really engaged in quizzing on the books and children who have done well are praised both in class and in celebration assemblies.   

We do provide interventions for those children who are significantly behind where they should be.  In the future, we will employ a Reading TA for extra support for children in KS2 and we are investigating a catch-up programme to use to support children’s learning. 

We have been able to develop an inspiring curriculum over the last 4 years at Wessex which enables us to really develop the background knowledge and vocabulary in all subjects.   The Accelerated Reader quizzes motivate children to read for pleasure but sometimes fantastic authors are still missed so we are also starting ‘Author of the month’ in which a different author is celebrated in assemblies and activities are published on Seesaw so that the authors who don’t fit in with the topics covered in school aren’t overlooked.