Reading

English Reading Subject Overview

Whole Class Reading is one part of the reading diet that children who attend Windsor Academy Trust primary schools are exposed to. During Whole Class Reading sessions, every child has a copy of the same text which is read to them by the teacher.

Teachers use this session to model how to:

● think like a reader

● to make predictions and inferences

● work out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary

● rehearse the use of fluency, expression and prosody (prosody is intonation, tone, stress and rhythm).

These sessions mostly consist of teachers reading and thinking aloud to their class as the children follow along with their own text. There will be opportunities for oral questioning and discussion of the text. The main aim of Whole Class reading is to inspire children through books. By doing so, we promote a love of reading and empower our children to become lifelong readers. Books are a gateway to other worlds and the opening of imaginations which increases our understanding of the world empowered by an expanding vocabulary. Experiencing these high quality and challenging texts mean that all children, regardless of ability, will access these stories and see, hear and feel what it is to be a reader. This will in turn support pupils to use these ideas and vocabulary in their own writing.

Whole Class Reading Approach

WAT Reading Spine

Accelerated Reader

In Years 2–6 at Tenterfields, as pupils graduate from the RWI phonics programme, they will transition to the Accelerated Reader Programme (AR).

AR is a well-established, research-based programme that encourages pupils to read books at their appropriate level, take quizzes to assess comprehension, and set personalised goals to track progress. Unlike traditional reading schemes, the books included in AR are written purely for enjoyment, offering a wide range of exciting stories, topics, and genres to capture children’s imaginations.

Why Accelerated Reader?

The Accelerated Reader Programme offers several benefits:

Tailored Reading: Pupils will select books suited to their reading ability, helping to build confidence and fluency.
Improved Engagement: AR motivates children to read widely by offering them ownership of their reading choices.
Comprehension Monitoring: Regular quizzes enable us to monitor and support each child’s understanding of what they’ve read.
Progress Tracking: Teachers and pupils can easily track growth and set achievable targets.

How Are Books Levelled in AR?

One of the key features of AR is its system for levelling books to match pupils with texts suited to their reading ability:

Each book is assigned a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) , based on its text complexity. The ZPD is calculated using factors such as vocabulary, sentence length, and text structure. Each ZPD number has a colour sticker, found on the bottom of the book’s spine. Each number is then divided into tenths to ensure further accuracy when helping pupils to select a book of appropriate complexity.
The STAR Reading Assessment helps determine a pupil’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which identifies the range of book levels that will challenge them without causing frustration. Pupils will take this short assessment in class.
Books within a pupil’s ZPD encourage growth by offering texts they can read independently while fostering new skills.

STAR Assessment: Understanding Your Child’s Reading Level

To ensure each child is matched to the most appropriate books, we will use the STAR Reading Assessment, a key feature of the Accelerated Reader Programme.

The STAR Assessment is a computer-based, adaptive test that evaluates a child’s reading ability.
It provides detailed information on your child’s reading age and their ZPD.
Pupils will complete the assessment termly, enabling us to monitor their progress and make adjustments to their reading goals as needed.

Supporting Your Child at Home

Parents play a vital role in nurturing a child’s reading journey. Here are ways you can support the transition:

Encourage daily reading habits by discussing your child’s book choices and quiz outcomes.
Use the AR BookFinder tool to find books your child will enjoy within their ZPD. You will likely find that many of the books that you already have at home are a part of the programme.
Celebrate milestones and praise efforts to keep your child motivated.

Your child will bring home a bookmark with their login details for the Accelerated Reader Programme. This bookmark will also highlight their ZPD. Once they login onto their Accelerated Reader App, you will be able to see how many words they have read and the amount of points they have scored.

We are confident that the Accelerated Reader Programme and STAR Assessments will inspire your child to grow as a reader while ensuring they are appropriately supported and challenged.

Reading Rewards

In Nursery and Reception children will receive a certificate for every 10 reads they complete. This will need to be recorded in the reading diary by a parent or adult at home. The highest award is the ‘250 read’ award.

In KS1 and KS2 children will receive a certificate for every 25 reads they complete all the way up to 500 reads. This will need to be recorded in the reading diary by a parent or adult at home. This should be recorded in their reading diary, along with the date, book title and a signature from the adult they have read to.

For early readers, this will mean that they will read the same book a number of times in one week. This helps our young readers to practise reading the words in their book over and over again to help build their fluency.

Certificates will be awarded in class assemblies. *A read is every time a child reads for 10 minutes a night.

Supporting the lowest 20% of readers

We are informed of our bottom 20% of readers through regular mock phonic screening and through our professional teaching judgments. These children are supported through 1:1, or small group, daily 'Keep Up' sessions This is an intervention which is specific to each individual child depending upon their reading ability and next steps.

For those children who leave key stage 1 having not achieved the statutory phonics screening daily phonics sessions continue, where appropriate. These children may also be identified by the SENDCO and additional further support is put in place as needed to remove barriers to reading for that child.

In Key Stage 2, children whose reading age is below that of where it should be read daily with an adult in school, providing them with the opportunity to further develop their speed, accuracy, expression and phrasing.

For children in years 5 and 6 whose reading age is below that of where it should be, will receive the RWI Fresh Start Phonics intervention.

Library

Our library is a peaceful and inviting environment which is designed to inspire our children to read for pleasure.

The children at Tenterfields visit the library once a week with their class and teacher. During the session, they are encouraged to make recommendations to peers and to look for books which peak both their reading and personal interests.

Our library also displays information about a new author every month and copies of texts written by the chosen author.