At St Mary’s Spoken Language is an integrated part of our behaviour for learning and as a tool for communication.  We use the National Curriculum Statutory requirements to plan from and as a school we have identified the following strands as focus areas;

Listening

• St Mary’s children are encouraged to be active listeners and speakers and use their words to communicate their feelings, knowledge and areas of learning which they have not understood.  
• We teach children what good listening involves, and good listening prompts are displayed in every classroom.  
• Cards developed in conjunction with the C and I team are used to support children with C and I needs who have not understood an aspect of learning/ instruction.

Asking questions

• We model the use of recall questions and use open ended questions (especially using a think aloud strategy in Guided Reading) to support children in the asking of their own questions to deepen their understanding and knowledge across the curriculum.

Vocabulary

• We actively teach tier 2 vocabulary and do not assume that children are familiar with what is being discussed.  
• Project vocabulary is part of the spelling provision across Key Stage 1 and 2
• TAs use vocabulary flashcards to support our ambition of ‘sticky’ knowledge

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Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes

• The children use colourful semantics to structure their sentences, story maps and text skeletons to organise their ideas for oral presentations.Reading

Reading is a golden thread in our curriculum; reading enables children to make sense of the world they live in and to extend their knowledge about specific aspects of the projects they are undertaking.  Texts are chosen to ensure children experience a wide variety over time, broaden vocabulary and understanding of grammar and allow children to experience reading as a pleasurable experience which underpins all their learning across the curriculum.  

Texts that we use include magazines, comics, maps, picture books, dual language books, phonic readers, book banded books, dictionaries and thesauruses, atlases, class made books, poetry, recipe books, information texts, explanation texts, diaries, posters and visual texts.  Research (Perfetti et al 1996) highlights the importance of keeping the texts interesting so as to engage pupils.  We have selected texts that will also act as a stimulus for writing.  

Early Years Reading

On entry to school early years begins with a focus on environmental print; including logos/text types/fonts/handwritten and typed with the intention of getting children to perceive themselves as a reader both in school and out of school.

Class texts are read at least daily and repeated to allow children to build fluency and understanding of the vocabulary across a range of genres.   Stories are introduced using puppets and visual aids.  Use of the Tales Toolkit helps children to understand how stories are structured and helicopter stories are used to explore character, setting and develop imagination.

Phonics

Our youngest children follow the DfES Letters and Sounds scheme that focuses on environmental sounds to promote phonological awareness and oral blending.
Once ready for the next stage in learning, phonics is taught daily in a group that is working on a specific set of sounds according to the ability of the child. Each session has a distinct structure and utilises Read Write Inc (RWI) and Letters and Sounds.  The children take home a RWI book each week to re-read and develop fluency.

Phonics support continues for as long as a child requires it.
Parental workshops to support phonics learning are delivered as required.


Guided Reading

Each week, the children at St Mary’s in Key Stage 1 and 2, undertake a carousel of activities to  develop comprehension;

Pre read	Guided session	Follow up task	Comprehension skills	Vocabulary skills/inference skills
Familiarity/Vocabulary focus linked to the text	Specific reading skill to be taught.	Apply/use skill that has been taught in Guided session.	N/A	N/A

Central to the carousel is a guided read with the teacher that focusses on comprehension rather than decoding (although for non-fluent readers this continues to be aspect that receives attention).  
These guided sessions include the following strategies;

• Predicting - making a logically plausible guess as to what will happen next.
• Questioning - asking questions about the text to expose different layers of meaning.
• Clarifying - Checking how specific words and phrases have been understood.
• Summarising - Stating the main events, actions, or ideas in the text.
• Thinking aloud - Reading a few sentences or a paragraph and verbalising what has been understood. (teacher and Pupil think alouds)
• Noting the text structure - Highlighting the main linguistic features of a specific text-type.
• Visualising - Developing a visual image of the text (story mapping)

Prior to the guided input, the group (ability) discuss the focus question/vocabulary from the pre read session that the children have undertaken in the pre teach lesson.  

The follow up session is an opportunity to use what they have learnt in the guided session and apply independently or collaboratively.  The sessions make use of levelled texts from the Rigby Navigator Scheme of work, sets of books, extracts of texts and teacher written texts. The books we select aim to open up possibilities for interpretation rather than a pre-determined answer.

Guided reading groups are monitored, assessed and adjusted to ensure that the children are in the appropriate group - notes are made about children’s responses during the session linked to national Curriculum and Target Tracker statements and will enable the teacher to track pupil progress.

Children who find reading difficult are supported throughout school with additional 1:1 support (for some this involves  reading with a volunteer) and group interventions to ensure they make progress and enjoy reading for pleasure and obtaining information to support their interests and learning.  
Children in KS2 who are NOT reaching Age Related Expectations are assessed using SALFORD reading tests to track progress (reading ages).

Reading at home 

We recommend that the children regularly read at home as it is a great way to encounter a wide range of authors and genres. It will also allow them to understand and use a wide range of vocabulary. They should aim to read on at least four occasions in any one week for a minimum of 10-15 minutes at a time.

In EYFS, children take home a book that has been chosen by the children to enjoy reading at home.  Levelled books are also sent home to support word and sound recognition and start the journey of good reading habits.  There is a ‘Going home’ library that children and parents can select from at any time.

In KS1 all children will be given a book band level. They will then be responsible for changing their reading books as necessary (TA/Teacher supported where needed). Parents will be asked to read with their children and record their reading in their child’s reading diary four times a week. Teachers will collect in reading records weekly to ensure that regular reading is taking place. If a child is not reading regularly at home, we will contact parents to offer support.   In KS2 each child will be issued with a reading diary and an age appropriate recommended reading list for children.  Book banded books will be available for children in Years 3 and 4 and for SEN pupils in UKS2.

Classes will arrange reading areas to ensure that all children are supported with their reading choices.
Promoting a love of texts

We have implemented a range of strategies to promote reading for pleasure;

• Children are gifted a book for their birthday from the EYFS team.
• Birthday books; families are invited donate a book that can be read by members of the class to celebrate their child’s birthday.  This could be a picture book, information book, a collection of poems or a much loved story. 
• Story telling weeks
• World Book Day celebrations 
• Book swaps​

Please use the links below for more information

Universally Speaking

Preparing for Literacy