Reading
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!” – Dr. Seuss
Our Reading Vision
At Overchurch Junior School reading takes centre stage. We aim to make all our children happy, confident and competent readers. We are committed to guide our pupils develop a love of reading, a good knowledge of a range of authors, and be able to understand more about the world in which they live through the knowledge they gain from texts.
By the end of their time at primary school, all children should be able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education. At Overchurch Junior School, we aspire to achieve this through careful planning of the reading curriculum, targeted intervention and plentiful opportunities to read for pleasure. Our children are surrounded by an array of quality texts. Our school and class libraries are brimming with fiction books to take us to far-away lands and non-fiction books to uncover interesting facts.
Reading Scheme
All of our pupils have access to the Reading Planet reading scheme and move through the levels. When they complete Supernova level, they become a free reader. Children are moved through the scheme by staff who assess their fluency and comprehension skills. As a free reader, pupils choose suitable texts from their class library, school library or from home. The texts chosen are carefully monitored by school staff to ensure they are a suitable challenge and provide a high level of tier 3 vocabulary.
Pupils are expected to read to an adult at home at least four times a week. This is recorded in reading records and monitored carefully by staff.
Whole Class Reading Lessons
At Overchurch Junior School, we use Ready Steady Read Together (formerly Steps to Read) for the teaching of reading. These lessons are whole class, shared reading sessions that teach reading comprehension skills and strategies explicitly.
Ready Steady Read Together:
-
Is sequenced, coherent and progressive
-
Uses language-rich texts for vocabulary teaching
-
Includes all elements of comprehension, taught sequentially across an academic year
-
Has a clear focus on skills and strategies needed to be a proficient and confident reader
-
Uses engaging texts to promote a life-long love of reading
-
Includes poetry, non-fiction and fiction that enhances knowledge learning across the curriculum
Intervention Support
For pupils working below Age Related Expectations, we ensure that timely, targeted support is provided to help to close gaps and accelerate progress.
Phonics is taught using Rocket Phonics (a DfE Accredited scheme). For pupils on the phonics scheme, reading books are carefully matched to their stage of phonetic development.
Reading for Pleasure
Our school is brimming with texts to excite, motivate and encourage our pupils to develop a love for reading. Class libraries and the school library are well stocked with a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts for all our pupils to enjoy. Time to enjoy reading for pleasure is carefully timetabled and all classes enjoy a class reader at the end of the school day.
Reading at OJS
To encourage reading for pleasure at home, parents are signposted to websites for age appropriate recommended reading lists. Our team of Reading Ambassadors work hard to research new releases, signpost their peers to their next read and help to keep reading areas well organised and inviting.
Celebrating Reading
At Overchurch Junior School we love to celebrate reading! A weekly Star Reader award for a motivated and enthusiastic reader is given to a pupil in each class. We celebrate World Book Day, host a Scholastic Book Fair and encourage pupils to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge. We have also been lucky enough to enjoy visits from published authors and poets!
Reading Curriculum
