Reading and Phonics

What does reading look like at Dore Primary School?

Reading is a high priority at Dore Primary School, it is woven into every lesson. Children recognise that reading is essential in all that we do, whether we are choosing what to have from the lunch menu or pondering the morning maths challenge; our children are reading to understand the world around them.

Early Reading and Phonics

All children in Foundation Stage and KS1 have a daily phonics lesson. At Dore Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds’, this is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme.

Click here to find out more about our phonics programme including videos demonstrating how we teach key elements of reading and information about books which children take home.

Click the links below for further information about Phonics and Early Reading at Dore Primary School:

Phonics, Early Reading and Reading Policy

Phonics Programme Overview for Reception and Year 1

Pronunciation guide 1, Pronunciation guide 2

Watch these videos to hear the correct pronunciation of the phonemes: Phase 2 (A), Phase 2 (B), Phase 3

Glossary

Reading Practice Sessions

As well as the daily phonics lesson, we teach children to read through reading practice sessions.

Foundation Stage 2 reading ; 

  • practise is carried out by the class teacher on a 1:1 basis weekly.
  • reading books are changed on a Monday and Thursday after a comment has been made in the reading diaries from home. 
  • targeted children will read daily with a TA.

Year 1 reading ; 

  • children will practise reading once a week in a small group with the class teacher. 
  • children will access further reading activities independently during the week linked to decoding and comprehension.
  • targeted children will read daily with a TA. 
  • reading books are changed on a Monday and Thursday. 

Year 2 reading ; 

  • children will practise reading once a week in a small group with the class teacher. 
  • children will access further reading activities independently during the week linked to decoding and comprehension. 
  • targeted children will read daily with a TA.
  • reading books are to be changed independently by the children on a Monday and Thursday. 

Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

    • decoding
    • prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
    • comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

In Year 3 and above, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.

Book Study

Children in KS2 benefit greatly from participating in Book Study. This is time for children to sit back and enjoy listening to a teacher read a rich and powerful text. Teachers are experts at reading these texts in a way to entice children into the story and leave them wanting more. Then together, as a class, children study and analyse snippets of the text, all learning and reflecting together.

Reading Spines

We love reading at Dore Primary and want all children to share in the fun, so we have handpicked 9 books for each year group. We call this our ‘Reading Spine’. We know sharing and discussing high-quality books binds our community together.

We have copies of the books for our year each year group in our reading corners. You may also want to enjoy them at home by purchasing them or borrowing them from a library. There is a picture of each book in each child’s Reading Log. Children can read the book at home or school and then rate each book. If your child reads one of them at school, it would be great if you could ask them some questions about the book.

Promoting a Love of Reading

We are passionate about promoting a love of reading at Dore Primary School. Here are just some of the extras we do to provide children with opportunities to enjoy reading:

  • Story time for all classes every day
  • World Book Day
  • Book Fairs
  • First News (newspaper) delivered to Y2 – Y6 classrooms
  • Access to our school library and changing of a reading for pleasure book weekly. 
  • Reading corners in every classroom
  • Story Sacks for Foundation Stage

Statutory Phonics Screening Check Data

  • In 2023 93.3% of Y1s passed the phonic screening check and 96,7% of pupils had passed this check by the end of KS1.

 

ENGLISH – INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT STATEMENTS:

Intent, Implementation and Impact in English

 

Reading News:

  • Science Book Awards 2024

    Thank you to all the children in Y6 who reviewed one or more of the shortlisted books for this year’s Royal Society Science Book of the Year Award. Our final ratings have been decided and our feedback has been sent to the Royal Society to help them crown a winner.
  • Y4 Book Swap

    The children were very excited to exchange some of their books from home. Every child took home a ‘new’ book for the weekend!
  • Y4 – P4C Through History and English

    After finding out about the Greek Myth King Midas, the children were asked to reflect upon the question, ‘What would I wish for if I had one wish?’ Using Philosophy for Children strategies, children were able to build on one another’s ideas and also challenge the wishes of some children. It was a pleasure to… Read more: Y4 – P4C Through History and English
  • Y4 English – Portal Stories

    Y4 have spent a great deal of care, time and effort creating these amazing stories. First we read about different examples of ‘portal story’, including The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Phantom Tollbooth. We worked out that mostly portal stories start with someone who isn’t happy with their everyday life (just like… Read more: Y4 English – Portal Stories
  • Y4 Sheffield Children’s Book Awards Visit

    Y4 spent a fantastic day in Sheffield city centre, attending the Sheffield Children’s Book Awards. At a very lively ceremony, we were entertained by ‘That Poetry Guy’, then saw the winners of the various awards, including the ones we had voted for when we were in Y3. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield presented the overall… Read more: Y4 Sheffield Children’s Book Awards Visit
  • Year 5 Book Club

    Year 5 have been celebrating reading in a weekly book club: Keep reading and sharing, what will you choose next? Here are some suggestions.
  • Y4 SpiDOREwick Chronicles

    Y4 started the year by immersing ourselves into the magical world of The Spiderwick Chronicles. Through our reading, we discovered that it is possible to gain ‘The Sight’, allowing humans to see into the ‘faerie’ world. This world contains all sorts of creatures, from fairies and pixies to trolls and boggarts. Once we had gained… Read more: Y4 SpiDOREwick Chronicles
  • Our first week in Y2
    🎉 Welcome back, Year 2 superstars! 🎉 It has been a great first week back at school. We have love exploring all our new classroom areas and taking part in our Y2 learning so far. We are getting ready for another amazing year of learning, achieveing , and making incredible memories together!
  • Poem fit for a king – Town Hall Celebration

    Dore Primary entered poems into the Schools Libray Service’s Poem fit for a king competition. And, thanks to the brilliant work of Iris and Hattie, we won! To celebrate, Iris and Hattie chose friends to accompany them on a a trip to Sheffield town hall for a writing and illustrating workshop with author of the… Read more: Poem fit for a king – Town Hall Celebration
  • Y1 Virtual book event!

    Year 1 have been learning about Caryl Hart’s book ‘how to grow a dinosaur’. They were invited to a virtual book event about her new book ‘meet the weather’ They enjoyed reading, singing, drawing and getting a private tour around the illustrators studio!
  • Reading Challenges 2023

    We are starting to get some brillinat responses to our the 2023 Reading Challenges! Please encourage your child to complete as many challenges as possible. Put your initials next to a challenge when they omplete it. Please return the sheets to class teachers by Friday 9th June.  One child per class will have the chance… Read more: Reading Challenges 2023
  • Y1 World Book Day

  • World Book Day at Dore Primary School 2023

    This year, World Book Day had a potato theme! Inspired by brilliant Books like Supertato and I am a Poetato the children all created a vegetable version of a character from one of their favourite books. We came together to share our favourites at he end of the day! A big thanks to The Village… Read more: World Book Day at Dore Primary School 2023
  • FS2: World Potato…sorry Book Day

    We had a lovely World Book Day 2023 in FS2 today. It started off in the best way, with parents and family members coming in to read with their children and often others too! There was a lovely atmosphere in the base and lots of excellent books being enjoyed. During the morning the children had… Read more: FS2: World Potato…sorry Book Day
  • Y4 World Book Day

    Y4 had a great time on World Book Day creating characters from our favourite books. This activity allowed us to have conversations about the characters we recreated, letting the rest of the class pick up some great book recommendations in the process.
  • Y3 – Science – Climate Change

    Some of the last learning Year 3 completed for their Pole to Pole topic was to understand climate change: What it is, How humans are causing it, The effects on the world’s biomes (espeically the polar region), What we can do about it. To do this, we: Used maps to understand what a geographical change… Read more: Y3 – Science – Climate Change
  • Y1 Writing

    Y1 have been learning about Aliens Love Underpants!
  • Y6 – Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

    Year 6 pupils have been taking part in the Royal Society’s annual Young People’s Book Prize. Pupils on the judging panel read and reviewed 6 fantastic new Science-based non-fiction books scoring them for the following categories: interest, look and feel, ease of reading and inspiration. The results are in and the panel’s top-scoring book was… Read more: Y6 – Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize
  • FS2 The Tomten and the Fox

    In outdoor learning this week, the children listened to the story of the Tomten and the Fox – a Scandinavian tale of a hungry fox in search of food in winter. Luckily for him, a kind Tomten (Scandinavian troll) who guards the farm at night was on watch and shared his bowl of warm porridge… Read more: FS2 The Tomten and the Fox
  • Y4 Portal Stories

    Y4 have spent a great deal of care, time and effort creating these amazing stories. First we read about different examples of ‘portal story’, including The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Phantom Tollbooth. We worked out that mostly portal stories start with someone who isn’t happy with their everyday life (just like… Read more: Y4 Portal Stories

Science Book Awards 2024

Thank you to all the children in Y6 who reviewed one or more of the shortlisted books for this year’s Royal Society Science Book of the Year Award. Our final ratings have been decided and our feedback has been sent to the Royal Society to help them crown a winner.

Y4 Book Swap

The children were very excited to exchange some of their books from home. Every child took home a ‘new’ book for the weekend!

Y4 – P4C Through History and English

After finding out about the Greek Myth King Midas, the children were asked to reflect upon the question, ‘What would I wish for if I had one wish?’ Using Philosophy for Children strategies, children were able to build on one another’s ideas and also challenge the wishes of some children. It was a pleasure to […]

Y4 English – Portal Stories

Y4 have spent a great deal of care, time and effort creating these amazing stories. First we read about different examples of ‘portal story’, including The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Phantom Tollbooth. We worked out that mostly portal stories start with someone who isn’t happy with their everyday life (just like […]

Y4 Sheffield Children’s Book Awards Visit

Y4 spent a fantastic day in Sheffield city centre, attending the Sheffield Children’s Book Awards. At a very lively ceremony, we were entertained by ‘That Poetry Guy’, then saw the winners of the various awards, including the ones we had voted for when we were in Y3. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield presented the overall […]

Year 5 Book Club

Year 5 have been celebrating reading in a weekly book club: Keep reading and sharing, what will you choose next? Here are some suggestions.

Y4 SpiDOREwick Chronicles

Y4 started the year by immersing ourselves into the magical world of The Spiderwick Chronicles. Through our reading, we discovered that it is possible to gain ‘The Sight’, allowing humans to see into the ‘faerie’ world. This world contains all sorts of creatures, from fairies and pixies to trolls and boggarts. Once we had gained […]

Our first week in Y2

🎉 Welcome back, Year 2 superstars! 🎉 It has been a great first week back at school. We have love exploring all our new classroom areas and taking part in our Y2 learning so far. We are getting ready for another amazing year of learning, achieveing , and making incredible memories together!

Poem fit for a king – Town Hall Celebration

Dore Primary entered poems into the Schools Libray Service’s Poem fit for a king competition. And, thanks to the brilliant work of Iris and Hattie, we won! To celebrate, Iris and Hattie chose friends to accompany them on a a trip to Sheffield town hall for a writing and illustrating workshop with author of the […]

Y1 Virtual book event!

Year 1 have been learning about Caryl Hart’s book ‘how to grow a dinosaur’. They were invited to a virtual book event about her new book ‘meet the weather’ They enjoyed reading, singing, drawing and getting a private tour around the illustrators studio!

Reading Challenges 2023

We are starting to get some brillinat responses to our the 2023 Reading Challenges! Please encourage your child to complete as many challenges as possible. Put your initials next to a challenge when they omplete it. Please return the sheets to class teachers by Friday 9th June.  One child per class will have the chance […]

Y1 World Book Day

World Book Day at Dore Primary School 2023

This year, World Book Day had a potato theme! Inspired by brilliant Books like Supertato and I am a Poetato the children all created a vegetable version of a character from one of their favourite books. We came together to share our favourites at he end of the day! A big thanks to The Village […]

FS2: World Potato…sorry Book Day

We had a lovely World Book Day 2023 in FS2 today. It started off in the best way, with parents and family members coming in to read with their children and often others too! There was a lovely atmosphere in the base and lots of excellent books being enjoyed. During the morning the children had […]

Y4 World Book Day

Y4 had a great time on World Book Day creating characters from our favourite books. This activity allowed us to have conversations about the characters we recreated, letting the rest of the class pick up some great book recommendations in the process.

Y3 – Science – Climate Change

Some of the last learning Year 3 completed for their Pole to Pole topic was to understand climate change: What it is, How humans are causing it, The effects on the world’s biomes (espeically the polar region), What we can do about it. To do this, we: Used maps to understand what a geographical change […]

Y1 Writing

Y1 have been learning about Aliens Love Underpants!

Y6 – Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

Year 6 pupils have been taking part in the Royal Society’s annual Young People’s Book Prize. Pupils on the judging panel read and reviewed 6 fantastic new Science-based non-fiction books scoring them for the following categories: interest, look and feel, ease of reading and inspiration. The results are in and the panel’s top-scoring book was […]

FS2 The Tomten and the Fox

In outdoor learning this week, the children listened to the story of the Tomten and the Fox – a Scandinavian tale of a hungry fox in search of food in winter. Luckily for him, a kind Tomten (Scandinavian troll) who guards the farm at night was on watch and shared his bowl of warm porridge […]

Y4 Portal Stories

Y4 have spent a great deal of care, time and effort creating these amazing stories. First we read about different examples of ‘portal story’, including The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Phantom Tollbooth. We worked out that mostly portal stories start with someone who isn’t happy with their everyday life (just like […]