Reading
Reading at Highfields Academy
At Highfields Academy & Nursery, we are committed to creating an environment where every child is a happy, confident learner who achieves their full potential and cultivates a lifelong love of learning. We recognise the vital importance of fluent reading as the foundation for academic success and promote reading as a purposeful, meaningful activity that supports children’s development across the curriculum.
Early Reading/Systematic Synthetic Phonics
At Highfields Academy, we teach early reading through the systematic, synthetic phonics programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. The attached statement of practice outlines our approach to this in further detail.
Reading in Key Stage Two
In Key Stage Two, we teach reading through whole-class sessions for 45 minutes each day.
Twice a week, lessons focus on the class novel, which is read aloud daily by the teacher. The attached long term plan/storytime spine outline our chosen texts, which have kindly been purchased by FOHS.
Two of the three remaining reading sessions use high-quality, age-appropriate texts to develop comprehension skills through targeted questions in key reading areas: retrieval, inference, prediction, vocabulary, summarising, and sequencing. Additionally, these lessons often link to the wider curriculum, exploring subjects such as science, history, and geography.
The final reading session focuses on the use of Accelerated Reader, enabling pupils opportunities to select books within their individual range/Zone of Proximal Development, read with an adult, and carry out quizzing to assess understanding.
Reading for Pleasure
At Highfields Academy, teachers read aloud to pupils daily, carefully selecting high-quality, diverse texts (from our storytime spine) that reflect a variety of voices and experiences. This fosters a love of reading and broadens children’s literary exposure.
We actively encourage reading at home, providing parents with guidance on how to support their child’s reading journey. Pupils are encouraged to visit visit the school library to choose books and staff monitor reading choices to offer recommendations and ensure a balanced reading diet.
Our commitment to nurturing a passion for reading ensures every child becomes a confident and enthusiastic reader, well-equipped to succeed across the curriculum and enjoy reading for life.