Reading at St. Oswald's 

First and foremost, we want all children at St. Oswald’s to develop a life-long love of reading. English units of work are linked to a class text and reading opportunities will be prevalent across every area of the curriculum, beginning in the Early Years.

Guided Reading

Children in the main school take part in guided reading workshops which focus on the skills of decoding and comprehension. Here children work in small groups, with a level of book matched to the ability of the child. The workshops may include time to complete independent pre-read tasks to prepare for guided reading sessions, a focused guided reading session where specific reading skills are modeled by the teacher and an independent follow up task where pupils have the opportunity to practice taught skills independently.

The books children read in EYFS and Year One are closely matched to progression in phonics and the phonics sounds they are currently covering.  We currently use Dandelion Launchers, Oxford Reading Tree and Collins Big Cat reading schemes. 

Once secure at Phase 5, children progress through leveled, coloured book bands.

Shared Reading

Shared reading is an interactive reading experience that involves the whole class working on a text or extract with the teacher. All texts are carefully selected to ensure they are both age appropriate and challenging. During shared reading, teachers explicitly model the skills of proficient readers. Teachers read texts aloud to the class and by doing so model the use of expression, appropriate volume and how to take note of punctuation.

One to One reading

One to One reading is used at St Oswald's to support progress in reading across the school and aims to develop word reading (phonics), fluency, comprehension skills and vocabulary development; to promote engagement and enjoyment in reading; and to enable children to make rapid progress in reading.  Our teaching assistants have received extensive reading training in order to deliver high quality, daily one to one reading sessions with those children who need that extra boost.