The Calder Learning Trust
Reading at the Heart
We believe that reading is of paramount importance as it underpins all other areas of the curriculum. At The Calder Learning Trust, all our young people are provided with a wide range of quality experiences in reading, writing and speaking and listening to enable them to become adept communicators.
We promote an enjoyment and love of books with our pupils and students of all ages.
Pupils and students are encouraged to be ambitious in their reading and we have a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books in our libraries. We celebrate reading through our stars of the week in classes and form time and through annual events such as World Book Day, Roald Dahl Day, Puffin Virtually Live Events and visiting authors, poets and comic writers.
Readers in both Calder Primary and Calder High have the opportunity to take part in the English Hub Reading Revolution events and competitions.
We encourage our young people to enjoy our library spaces through regular visits and opportunites and our pupils and students are able to be librarians, recommending books to peers and helping shape the books we have on offer.
Staff role model their love of reading through the staff book club and student and pupil book clubs have followed on from these. We encourage parents to be involved through events such as our Breakfast and Books morning on World Book Day and through competitions and events such as stay and play sessions. In Calder Primary, we ask parents to share in reading together and developing a love of books, poems, rhymes and characters with children at home right from our links with nurseries and at the beginning of Reception.
As our young people move through school, they still love to listen to and enjoy stories and podcasts. We share Calderdale Libraries events with families for pre-school to adults and promote our local Hebden Bridge and Halifax libraries to all.
Top Tips for Reading with your child
Windows and Mirrors
We believe that all children should be able to see themselves in stories and that all children should be seen; stories help children become empathetic and reflective.
As a Read Write Inc school, we follow the Windows and Mirrors approach to our class, form and library books which recognises the importance of all children seeing themselves and others reflected in what they read:
- windows into the lives of all children
- mirrors for children’s own lives.
Themes include: family and friendship; exploring feelings; kindness and community; our planet; change and bereavement; moving home or country; the power of speaking up.
Phonics
At The Calder Learning Trust we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their Literacy. Read Write Inc is a method of learning centered around letter sounds and phonics and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and with pupils who need more support in Year 3, for example where they have joined our school further up school.
Reading opens the door to learning. A child who reads a lot will become a good reader. A good reader will be able to read more challenging material. A child who reads challenging material is a child who will learn. The more a child learns, the more he or she will want to find out. Ruth Miskin, founder of RWI
Using Read Write Inc, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into comprehending what they read. It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.
In Reception and Class 1, our class and home reading books are all Read Write Inc books, carefully matched to their phonics learning. In addition, classrooms have other books for reading for pleasure and sharing together, including story books and non-fiction.
When using RWI to read the children will:
- learn that sounds are represented by written letters
- learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
- learn how to blend sounds
- learn to read words using 'Fred Talk'
- read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
- show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions.
When using RWI to write the children will:
- learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent 44 sounds.
- learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk
- write simple sentences
Fresh Start Phonics
Read Write Inc Fresh Start is a systematic synthetic phonics programme for struggling readers aged 9 to 13+. It is for students who:
- are not working at age-related expectations or did not meet national expectations at the end of Key Stage 2
- have missed schooling or are late arrivals into our school
- are new to the UK education system
- are learning English as an additional language.
Fresh Start accelerates students’ reading accuracy, fluency and stamina in just 30 minutes a day. Students make as much as two years’ progress in only two months. It includes:
- Regular phonics lessons at each student’s ‘challenge point’. Students progress quickly because they learn and review letter-sounds and words at their level.
- New motivating age-appropriate modules which reflect students’ everyday experiences and backgrounds. Older readers enjoy applying their new phonic knowledge to engaging matched decodable stories and non-fiction texts.
- Fresh Start mirrors the DfE’s 2023 Reading Framework.
Parent Guides to Phonics
We hold an annual phonics information session in the autumn term for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 parents and update parents at Parents' Evenings. All families are given a set of Set 1 cards and guides to helping at home. Set 2 and 3 cards are available to purchase on Amazon for a small amount.
The Read Write Inc website has some great tutorial videos to help you understand how Read Write Inc works and how you can support your child at home.
If you have any questions about your child's learning, please do not hesitate to speak to their class teacher.
If your child is being supported by Fresh Start Phonics, this information will be shared with you at Parents' Evenings or through our intervention teams. Please email us if you would like any more information.
Calder Primary Reading
In our primary classrooms we have reading areas in each classroom, with books that match pupils' phonic learning as well as fiction and non-fiction texts and a range of diverse themes and authors. These areas are regularly updated from our library and feature books which link to current areas of learning. We have Key Stage 2 Librarians who work with our Reading Leader, Mrs Kennedy to organise and update the library, recommend books, give pupils the opportunity to borrow books for home each week and hold events and competitions for all to get involved in.
In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 we teach all our pupils to read through the Read Write Inc Phonics Scheme.
All pupils bring home a Read Write Inc Book Bag book to read each week along with a chosen school library book.
From Year 3 we follow the Oxford Reading Tree Treetops home reading scheme and encourage pupils to read regularly to an adult at home and we have a full set of Treetops books which include classics, 'greatest stories' selected by Michael Morpurgo, 'chucklers' selected by Jeremy Strong and non-fiction 'in-fact' books too. They bring this book along with a chosen library book each week.
Pupils who join us in Key Stage 2 who need more support with their reading, are supporting by Read Write Inc Fresh Start interventions.
All pupils are also encouraged to take home a reading book for pleasure, chosen during their class library time.
Talk Through Stories
Pupils in EYFS and KS1 have daily timetabled Read Write Inc 'Talk through Stories' sessions in additon to their phonics lessons, which share quality texts and a joy of reading and also model expression, use of punctuation and build pupils' vocabulary.
- Talk Through Stories grows children’s vocabulary through partner talk. Children need to talk, if we are to develop their language.
- In Story week, children get to know – and love – the story through talk: they understand the plot, the characters, and their actions and motives.
- In Vocabulary week, the talk focuses on eight words from the story. These are words that children are unlikely to hear in everyday conversation but are likely to come across in stories. For example, in I’m in charge by Jeanne Willis, they learn and use bellowed, startled, barged, sneaked, grinned, dreadful, stomped, refused.
- Children develop their understanding of each word by using the words in the context of their everyday lives.
In KS2 we build on this through following the same model, but using class texts linked to their English lessons. Pupils continue their Talk Through Stories skills of learning and building their knowledge and use of tier 2 and 3 vocabularly to apply to their work across the curriculum.
Pupils also take part in regular reading aloud to an adult and shared guided reading sessions.
Talk Through Stories Tier 2 Vocabulary
Calder High Reading
Students in Key Stage 3 who need more support with their reading, are identified and support through the Read Write Inc Fresh Start Scheme.
All students in Key Stage 3 also have regular guided reading sessions as part of their Form Time each week.
We champion authors and reading through having visits and workshops in our LRC library at the heart of the Calder High building.
We take part in the annual Readathon challenge, challenging students to read a range of books and help raise funds for both the Read for All charity and to continue to build our library collections.
We have worked hard to audit and build our library and guided reading collections to ensure they cover a range of diverse themes and authors including with student librarians.
