At Horsell C of E Junior School we see reading at the heart of our school curriculum. Our children are given the opportunity to read a range of texts across different genres and subjects. By the end of Key Stage 2, we aim that all children at Horsell will have completed the reading book band system and become a Horsell Reader. Banded books follow a structured scheme which provides children with a colourful stairway of progression in reading.

A Horsell Reader is a child that has gained a coherent knowledge and understanding of the ability to read fluently and confidently through decoding, segmenting and blending. The children will be equipped to analyse the author’s choice of vocabulary, infer deeper meanings, predict what might happen next, explain hidden meanings, themes and messages within the text, sequence events and summarise what has been read. Children will be able to use their knowledge of text to make comparisons and help justify their answers. The children will be exposed to a range of high-quality fiction and non-fiction texts to ensure that reading is impacting positively on the wider curriculum. Children will be inspired to take risks with their reading and challenge their understanding of the world through literature, as well as challenging others' understanding of the text. Children will go beyond reading for pleasure and be able to talk about books with a passion, recommending quality texts to others.

At Horsell Junior school we use the Reading Rainbow (Jane Considine) which allows the children to dive deeper in texts using a range of lenses to help focus their line of enquiry. Children participate in many book talk sessions during our reading lessons where they take responsibility for their learning; navigating different roles and responsibilities to discuss key themes and techniques used by the authors. The children share ideas and help further their understanding of the text.

For those children that are at the early stages of reading, we follow the Rapid Phonics scheme to ensure children gain a secure knowledge and understanding of phonics and language comprehension that will support them in decoding texts and to become a confident reader. Children who are beyond phonics intervention but who require further reading support are assessed to join the Tutoring with the Lightning Squad intervention. This was created by FFT and forms part of our wider reading support for pupils in years 3 all the way to year 6. 

A Horsell Reader is:

• A reader who has completed the reading scheme.
• A reader who has demonstrated a good level of competence in both decoding and comprehension.
• A reader who engages in quality book talk.
• A reader who takes risks with their reading.
• A reader who challenges their understanding of the world through literature.
• A reader who goes beyond reading for pleasure.
• A reader who challenges other readers' understanding of texts.
• A reader who talks about books with a passion.
• A reader who can recommend quality books.
• A reader who is ambitious in their choice of literature.
• A reader who develops their language through ambitious vocabulary taken from a range of reading.
• Proud of their ability to read

Implementation

Reading for pleasure- Collective Worship

Curl up with a book

Our Collective Worship sessions are an ideal opportunity for teachers to share books for a range of purposes. All the texts are shared as reading for pleasure.   Teachers read, children may dramatise the texts and the whole school listens. This is an ideal opportunity for raising the profile of topics within themed national events and also supporting areas which are raised as requiring further focus.