Reading
Reading at Highfields Academy
At Highfields Academy, we teach early reading through the systematic, synthetic phonics programme Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. From the start of Reception, children participate in daily phonics lessons following the Little Wandle progression, continuing into Year 1 to ensure they become fluent readers.
Phonics lessons last 25 minutes a day. In Reception, we start with 10-minute lessons, incorporating additional oral blending games and gradually extend to full-length sessions. Every Friday, we review the week’s learning to reinforce understanding and fluency.
We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations for progress. Each week, four new phonemes and their corresponding graphemes (GPCs) are introduced, with the final lesson of the week dedicated to reviewing this learning. Children also learn tricky words during these sessions.
Reception: During the Autumn and Spring terms, children learn Phase 2 and Phase 3 GPCs before progressing to Phase 4 in the Summer term.
Year 1: Pupils revise Phases 2, 3, and 4 in the Autumn term before moving on to Phase 5, which they complete by the end of the year.
Year 2: Children revisit Phase 5 and previous phases to build confidence in applying GPCs in their reading and writing.
Half-termly assessments in Reception and Year 1 inform our teaching and identify any children needing additional support. Daily assessments ensure any pupils at risk of falling behind receive timely ‘Keep Up’ interventions.
Reading Practice Sessions
Children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 read fully decodable books with an adult at least three times a week during our ‘Reading Practice’ sessions. These books are then sent home, providing opportunities for children to build reading fluency and demonstrate their phonetic knowledge to parents and carers.
Reading in Key Stage Two
In Key Stage Two, we teach reading through whole-class sessions for 45 minutes each day, ensuring all pupils progress together. Twice a week, lessons focus on the class novel, read aloud by the teacher.
The remaining three 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.
Reading for Pleasure
At Highfields Academy, teachers read aloud to pupils daily, carefully selecting high-quality, diverse texts 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.