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Curriculum

Reading

AMBITION

Confident readers who love to read

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Our aspiration is for every child to read fluently and to develop a passion for books. We prioritise early reading skills ensuring that our children develop the ability to decode through the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics.

As children progress through school, we provide a well structured breadth of reading experiences and opportunities. This ensures that we enable children to explore a wide range of books and texts, and develop a love for reading that endures beyond their primary years.

IMPLEMENTATION

Building fluency, automaticity and comprehension

Systematic Synthetic Phonics

Phonics is taught right from the start in EYFS to enable our children to build those reading skills as soon as they come into school. Our phonics sessions are delivered through whole class teaching, enabling all children to have exposure to the sounds. Those who need additional phonics support have this through catch-up intervention.

We use Essential Letters & Sounds as our DfE accredited phonics programme.

To support parents, we offer a workshop where we share the principles of teaching phonics and the importance of pure sounds, and give advice on how to read with children at home. Examples of pure sound pronunciation can be found using the following link: Essential Letters and Sounds – Oxford Owl

Reading Scheme Books

1:1 & Independent Reading To Gain Fluency

Our independent reading books are from the Oxford Tree Reading Scheme, and provide pupils with opportunities to engage with both fiction, poetry and non-fiction materials.

Whilst children are in the first years of school, independent reading books are carefully chosen by teachers to enable the pupils to practise their reading and gain automaticity and fluency when reading. Re-reading is encouraged, as this supports our children’s familiarity with the text and develops comprehension skills.

Links below help parents to support their child when reading at home:

Supporting your child with reading at home (KS1)
Supporting your child with reading at home (KS2)

Class Readers – Our Whole Class Reading Book

An end of day story is a wonderful thing, and we cherish this moment at Preston Hedges.

To ensure that our children gain an exposure to a range of genres and styles, we have carefully thought out and planned our class readers across the school. These books are often referenced in English sessions, enabling children to use the context of the book to write in different styles and for differing audiences.

Reading For Pleasure

Our red library bus is a weekly stop for all of our children across school, where they can take out a reading for pleasure book. We have a strong reward system in place that encourages our children to read regularly, and we are thrilled that all of our children enjoy the process of working toward the rewards. They particularly enjoy gaining their reading badges and spending their tokens at the Reading Vending Machine.

Building Comprehension

Building strong analysis and comprehension skills are incedibly important, and our teachers always ensure that they build talk around reading into their sessions. In Key Stage Two, our pupils have focused deep analysis sessions  based around their class reader or a high quality extract or poem to use and apply retrieval and inference skills and engage in a deeper textual understanding.

Sharing Experiences

Red Phone Box Book Swap: Our phone box is available for all members of our school community to access at any time they see fit. We have a section for toddlers, so our pupils’ siblings can be equally involved with reading at school.

Friday Readers: Our EYFS & KS1 families are invited in at 2.45pm on a Friday afternoon to share a book with their child. Younger siblings are very welcome!

IMPACT

Confident, fluent readers

Our approach leads to happy, well-rounded children who, through the exceptional experiences and opportunities offered, understand the importance of and enjoy reading.

Attainment in Phonics, and in the Y6 end of primary Reading assessments are well above local and national levels, and are in the top 20% of the UK.

CURRICULUM

OUR SCHOOL

Welcome to our outstanding primary school. Founded on the principles of Fun, Creativity and Achievement, ours is a very special school where children are encouraged to thrive socially and academically.

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Year on year

progress

Alongside academic achievement, this gives every child at Preston Hedges School the opportunity to fulfil their own unique potential. The result? Children at our school consistently outperform their peers – both regionally and nationally – and many go on to win places at the country’s most prestigious secondary settings.

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Happy, Confident Learners

Inspired by the philosophy of Fun, Creativity and Achievement.

Curriculum content is rigorously planned to ensure all children engage in lessons and consolidate their learning with clear intentions.

Throughout the school, each year group’s learning is documented and displayed through celebratory Floor Books where QR codes and final pieces of work demonstrate each topic’s implementation, progressive journey and learning impact.

PRESTON HEDGES PRIMARY SCHOOL

Wootton Hope Drive, Wootton Fields, Northampton, NN4 6BU

Registered Office: Wootton Hope Drive, Wootton Fields, Northampton, NN4 6BU. Registration No. 08282041. England & Wales.