English - Reading & Phonics

Reading 

At Grove Road Primary School we see the teaching of reading skills are an essential part of a child’s learning journey. We believe that children need to learn, embed and use reading skills to become a fluent reader and sustain a love of reading. The reading journey begins in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and is embedded across the school. We have created our own Grove Road's Systematic, Synthetic, Phonics Programme to ensure consistency of approach to teaching children to read through a well-structured, rigorous Phonics programme.

Information on this page and the attached documents will draw together some of the important concepts behind our facilitation of developing readers. It will define how reading is taught at Grove Road and the implementation of reading across the school and the curriculum. 

Grove Road’s Reading Intent Statement: 

Grove Road strives to ensure all children leave Grove Road as fluent readers so they can apply their reading skills across the wider curriculum, allowing them to access learning and succeed. Grove Road aims to instil a love of reading so that children can access and read a wide variety of texts with stamina, enthusiasm and understanding. 

Intended Impact of Reading: 

During the children’s learning journey at Grove Road, our intended impact of Reading curriculum is to ensure that; 

• At Grove Road there is a consistent teaching, progression and continuity in the teaching and learning of phonics throughout the school and the Grove Road programme, is taught and followed with fidelity. 
• Children at Grove Road use their phonics skills and knowledge to help them decode and fluently read. 
• Children become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage 1.
• Children will enjoy reading across a range of genres. 
• Children of all abilities will be able to succeed in all reading lessons across the curriculum. 
• Children will be ready to read in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education. 
• Children will use a range of strategies for decoding words, not solely relying on phonics. 
• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support reading and home, and contribute regularly to home-school records 
• The % of pupils working at ARE within each year group will be in line with, or above, national averages. 
• The % of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be in line, or above, with national averages. 
• There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged).

PUPIL VIEWS

"I love how you can immerse yourself in another world; if I ever feel unhappy or stressed, I just pick up a book!” - Jemima, Year 6

"Phonics is good for us to learn because it helps me learn to read” - Eliza, Year 1 

"I like Phonics because we learn how to spell and read. It is important because it fills our brains and helps us to learn to read” - Joshi, Year 1 

"Because I like writing, the more I read it helps get my writing get better because I can improve my vocabulary” - Ellie, Year 4 

"I like reading because it increases my knowledge in other subjects as I can find out facts about it” - Ava, Year 4

"I love reading as I love getting stuck into a book as it makes me feel like I am in another world. I love adventure books as I think I am on the adventure” - Elsa, Year 4 

"The thing I like about reading is that you always learn new things if you’re reading a non-fiction book. I also like reading stories as you get absorbed by it” - Connor, Year 3

"I like reading because I get quiet time to focus and captures my imagination” - Leo, Year 3

"I like reading funny stories because they make me laugh” - Jack, Year 2

"Phonics is good to learn so I know how to read when I get stuck” - Indigo, Year 2