Preventing children from falling behind with their reading

Quality First Teaching (QFT):

Before considering additional support beyond the classroom, class teachers firstly adapt their teaching in the following ways to ensure every child makes good progress:

 Phonics Interventions

Phonics teaching can be embedded throughout the school day using the following approaches:

• Door Code (this could be a new GPC or a previous shared gap)
• Frequently refer back to the day’s GPC on the frieze/learning wall
• Talk to children in sound talk (for non-blenders) e.g. “Where is your c-oat-t?”
• Adults to carry flashcards to show children at any and all transition times during the day e.g. lining up for assembly.
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However, some children may require additional support in order to keep up with the pace of the phonics programme.  Both Unlocking Letters and Sounds and Essential Letters and Sounds have bespoke phonics interventions which can be delivered to children who need this support.

Unlocking Letters and Sounds Interventions (Blackhorse):
Teachers review the assessment Excel spreadsheet, once a week, to inform interventions. Children who are working at the bottom 20% receive reading with the class teacher 3 times a week, an appropriate intervention and modifications of quality first teaching. Children with multiple gaps working at a higher percentage are then targeted. At the end of each phase, any child who can recall below 80% of the GPCs and CEWs will be chosen for an appropriate intervention.

• One ‘Weekly Phonics Intervention Plan’ per adult in the year group team (set up by the teacher, this can be handwritten)
• One adult in the class must have a sheet for the lowest 20%
• Other adults in the team can then focus on children who may not be the lowest 20% but have gaps in sounds or blending
• Teacher to use the sheets to update the Assessment Records as needed, using teaching judgement

Reception Responsibilities:

• Class Teacher is responsible for reading with the lowest 20% 3x per week
• Class Teacher is responsible for setting up the ‘Weekly Phonics Intervention Plan’ (separate to lowest 20%) that identifies the five children with the earliest gaps
• Teaching Assistant is responsible for carrying out the ‘Weekly Phonics Intervention Plan’

KS1 and KS2 responsibilities:

• Class Teacher is responsible for reading with the lowest 20% 3x per week
• Class Teacher is responsible for setting up the ‘Weekly Phonics Intervention Plan’
• Teaching Assistant is responsible for setting up and running interventions with lowest 20%. Children are to have one focus at a time e.g. phonemes or CEW. Choose the focus based on their barrier to accessing the next book band
• Teaching Assistant is responsible for carrying out the ‘Weekly Phonics Intervention Plan’

Fluency Interventions

Fluent reading requires lots of practice.  Children who need additional support to improve their accuracy, automaticity or prosody are targeted through monitored reading practice.  Each class has a list of ‘priority readers’ who will benefit from additional reading practice in order to improve their fluency: these children should read aloud to an adult at least three times per week in school.

Some children require further targeted practice in order to develop their reading fluency.  These children may take part in a fluency intervention, during which time they pre-read the text chosen for their whole-class fluency lesson with modelling and support from a HLTA.  This provides the children with the additional monitored reading practice they require and enables them to access the whole-class fluency lessons with greater confidence and accuracy.

Specified children are allocated for a fluency intervention; this runs as follows:

• Target children receive 2 x 20 minutes teacher/HTLA- led sessions each week for 8 consecutive weeks
• The intervention comprises of 2 sessions:

Session A: modelled fluency session

Session B: text discussion session

• Children tackle a new text each week. These texts are carefully chosen and are at the level of reading we would expect the children to be reading independently by the end of the year

Session A Outline:

Step 1 – The adult reads a text, modelling expert prosody

Step 2 – Children echo the modelled prosody

Step 3 – The adult repeats a modelled prosodic read of a section of the text

Step 4 – Children echo the modelled prosody (using text marking where appropriate)

Step 5 – Children practise reading the section of text in pairs or small groups

Step 6 – Children ‘performance read’ the section of text to a group

Step 7 – The adult and children provide feedback to each other

Step 8 – After the first session children will take home a copy of the text to read multiple times. We will call the people who listen to the children the ‘lucky listeners’ and children will try and get as many lucky listeners to sign the back of their sheets as they can.

Session B Outline:

Step 1 – Children do a swift choral performance of the section read in Session A

Step 2 – The adult discusses new and unfamiliar vocabulary with the children

Step 3 – The adult asks the children a simple summary question about the characters, setting and the main theme of the text

Step 4 – The adult asks some retrieval questions to establish meaning and one inferential question at the end for the children to discuss using evidence from the text

Other Interventions

At the end of each term, children will be assessed on their phonological knowledge and reading ability. Children in the lowest 20% of readers in each class will read 3 times a week with a teacher and focus on areas of concern. These children will change on a termly basis depending on their progress. Children who are struggling to retain phonemes will be entered into a phonics intervention. Children who have a good phonological awareness but are struggling to read fluently and comprehend will be put into an appropriate intervention. This will be dependent on their reading scores from the running record, reading speed, fluency rubric and comprehension.

At Blackhorse, we have a team of specialist Teaching Assistants managed by the Reading Lead who contribute towards the school reading ethos. They support the school’s reading for pleasure strategy and help manage book stock and promotion. They also provide 1-1 and group reading support across the key stages. They work hard to boost confidence around reading and use a child centred thrive approach to build strong relationships with the children they work with.

The Reading Intervention Team (RIT) work with the reading lead, teachers and the SENCO to identify children in need of additional reading support.

Children in receipt of Pupil Premium have guaranteed access to the Reading Intervention team at least once a term and receive sessions tailored to their ability. If parents/ carers have concerns about reading, they can offer help and advice.

EYFS

The EYFS RIT role is to support the teaching from class phonics lessons with 1-1 and small group work. Children who need additional support to secure and apply their phonic learning will come to the RIT, using a child centred approach to address SEMH needs and foster a love of books and reading. Assessment and support for mid-year transfer and EAL students new to the school is also part of the EYFS RIT role.

As specialists in early phonics acquisition, they sometimes support children in KS1 working towards their expected level. They also work with the KS1 team to run guided reading sessions across EYFS and KS1 classes, as well as monitoring and maintaining EYFS book stock.

KS1 Reading Team

The KS1 team work to support reading in 1-1 sessions and guided reading in Year 1 and 2. They also run guided reading group sessions for the EYFS classes. The RIT support progressing children’s reading by securing phonic decoding, blending, accuracy, fluency, vocabulary recognition and comprehension skills. They work according to the cohort’s needs under the direction of the Reading Lead. Their role often includes bespoke 1-1 sessions tailored to individual’s needs. PP children reading below expectation will have regular sessions; PP children reading at expected level or above will receive check-ins at least termly.

They support class teachers with reading assessment and the Reading Lead with identifying the lowest 20%, and help monitor PP, SEN & EHCP children’s reading progress.

In addition, they oversee book stock, new book purchases, Reading for Pleasure display and the library management system.

KS2 Reading Team

The KS2 team work with children across the classes. The RIT support progressing children’s reading by securing phonic decoding, blending, accuracy, fluency, vocabulary recognition and comprehension skills. They work according to the cohort’s needs under the direction of the Reading Lead. The RIT offer group interventions in fluency and inference alongside bespoke 1-1 reading support. Individual sessions are tailored to the child focusing on key strategies to secure fluent, accurate reading.

PP children reading below expectation will have regular sessions; PP children reading at expected level or above will receive check-ins at least termly. Feedback is given to class teachers on a regular basis; strategies are agreed to promote progress. The RIT team will also support with reading assessment and SATS. In addition, they oversee book stock, new book purchases, Reading for Pleasure display and the library management system.