Reading in KS2

“The most successful learning occurs when children are guided by adults towards learning things that they could not attempt to learn on their own.”   (Vgotsky)

As pupils enter KS2, we recognise how important it is that they continue to develop their reading fluency alongside developing their comprehension skills and love of reading.

Pupils continue to embed their phonics skills as they enter Y3. All classes are taught using a whole class reading approach ensuring that every child has access to high quality texts and high quality first teaching from a reading expert.

These whole class reading sessions are taught 3 - 4 x per week and texts are selected carefully across the Key Stage 2 classes. These sessions combine a balance of teacher modelling reading with prosody and fluency, echo, paired or choral reading, pre-teaching or discovery of new vocabulary and, where applicable, pre-teaching of the social/cultural/historical/geographical context of the book.

All classes use a multi-sensory approach to VIPERS (an acronym for the 6 reading domains of the National Curriculum created by Rob Smith – The Literacy Shed) to aid the teaching of comprehension skills. Whole class reading sessions across the course of a week include: high quality paired and whole class discussion around the text, teacher modelled answers and both verbal and written responses.

Pupils are also heard read individually as often as possible by the teacher, teaching assistants or trained parent/grandparent helpers or other trained volunteers.

In addition, pupils have a wide range of opportunities to read in other areas of the curriculum as well as being read to every day.

Older pupils pair up with younger pupils to become reading buddies and they have access to a variety of quality fiction and non-fiction through class book corners and the use of both the Community Reading Hub and the KS2 library.