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24. Key to pupils’ good progress and enjoyment is the substantial reading
programme. The headteacher describes this as a menu from which teachers
select according to their pupils’ needs. The school invests significantly in books
and adult time to support reading. The programme includes:
phonics ‘taught fast and first’ each day in the Reception class, Key Stage 1,
and selectively in Key Stage 2
a balance of shared, guided and independent reading
a low ratio of pupils to adults, including trained volunteers, to maximise
opportunities to listen to pupils read and talk about their reading
home reading and additional support for those who make slower progress
book borrowing from the library for Early Years Foundation Stage children
upwards
shared class reading of whole novels chosen to capture pupils’ interest
reading of different kinds of text, including digital texts
reading events such as a ‘magic and make-believe’ day of storytelling,
class authors, book and film clubs, and book weeks with parental
involvement
reading targets for pupils.
25. The school feels that investment in the enjoyment of reading turns average
readers into keen ones. Guided reading involves a higher than typical ratio of
adults to pupils, resulting in more discussion time for each pupil. The class
teacher, or teaching assistant, checks the home–school reading journals and
assistants, or volunteers, listen to pupils read if it appears not to have
happened at home. All classes read two or three substantial works of fiction a
year; teachers select the books that they want to teach, drawing on libraryborrowing
statistics and what different groups of pupils say they like. Boys and
girls speak with similar enthusiasm about novels by C.S. Lewis, Roald Dahl and
Michael Morpurgo. These class novels provide the exemplars and contexts for
learning language skills.
26. All pupils borrow books from the school library, which has over 14,000 books.
The well-furnished, carpeted room displays books temptingly under a threedimensional
frieze of story characters made by a local artist. A similarly inviting
room equipped with book bags, reading resources and small tables is used for
group work. These investments enact the school’s policy to provide ‘access to
quality books in school and at home, to encourage a love of books for
enjoyment’. The book stock is very well maintained by the school’s team of
teaching assistants, all of whom know the library well. The library is managed
by the English leader assisted by a teaching assistant librarian. It is used for
teaching library skills, reading clubs and class borrowing sessions. Older pupils
talk to younger pupils about books and read with them. Pupil librarians
Excellence in English: what we can learn from 12 outstanding schools
May 2011, No. 100229
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