English
- Take every opportunity to encourage pupils to speak in full sentences;
- Routinely make pupils aware of what makes good listening and demonstrate this during whole-class and smaller group discussions;
- Ensure the use of talk partners is embedded and pupil talk in this context is focused and purposeful [discussion points are open-ended];
- Plan regular opportunities for high quality talk in every lesson;
- Discretely teach key vocabulary that becomes increasingly complex over time;
- Use sentence stems, where appropriate, to scaffold pupils’ talk;
- Display and refer to discussion guidelines [or equivalent] in-order to support group discussions;
- Model good language in and out of the classroom;
- Take every opportunity to praise and reward pupils’ oracy [as outlined in the Behaviour Policy];
- Use a wide range of stimuli for talk [e.g. talking points, images, multimedia];
- Carefully consider pupil groupings [such as pairs, trios, larger groupings] so that they are appropriate to the task;
- Ensure that pupils are encouraged to learn from each other during group and paired dialogue sessions;
- Provide pupils with opportunities to self and peer-assess talk;
- Provide opportunities for pupils to take part in events that develop oracy skills beyond their school e.g. the poetry competition and GLC Literary Arts Festival.


- Develop their phonological awareness so that they can ‘tune in’ to hear individual words, beats and whether words rhyme;
- Develop their phonemic awareness so that they can hear, identify, blend and segment orally before ‘reading’;
- Have a good phonic awareness in order to decode;
- Be able to read increasingly difficult texts fluently with expert prosody;
- Have a good bank of vocabulary that grows on a daily basis;
- Understand the meaning of words in context using the 5 phase approach;
- Be able to retrieve information quickly and accurately;
- Be able to use their knowledge to infer information;
- Develop the ability to summarise and evaluate authorial intent;
- Read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts that are chosen for them [to ensure breadth] and that they choose for themselves [to foster a love of reading].

- In response to pupils’ interests;
- To widen pupils’ experience and vocabulary;
- To ensure progression from Nursery to Year 8.
- To develop fluency: paired reading, echo reading, reading aloud, performance reading, teacher modelling (these need to be planned and purposeful opportunities that take consideration of the texts, the needs of the cohort and pupils individually (QLA’s);
- To develop comprehension: when planning to teach comprehension, it is important that all domains in reading are covered throughout the year; however, it is essential that the three key domains are covered (retrieval, inference and finding the meaning of a word in context) throughout the week. Both written and verbal sessions should include a range of question stems and layouts should reflect formal testing techniques (see appendix 3d);
- To develop vocabulary: the five-phase approach should be used to support pupils’ understanding of unfamiliar words.

|
Milestone 1 |
Milestone 2 |
Milestone 3 |
To read words accurately |
• Apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words. • Respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes. • Read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught. • Read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word. • Read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings. • Read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs. • Read words with contractions (for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll) and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s). • Read aloud accurately books that are consistent with phonic knowledge and that do not require other strategies to work out words. • Re-read these books to build up fluency and confidence in word reading. • Read accurately by blending the sounds in words that contain the graphemes taught so far, especially recognising alternative sounds for graphemes. • Read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above. • Read words containing common suffixes. • Read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word. • Read most words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered. • Read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation. • Re-read books to build up fluency and confidence in word reading. |
• Apply a growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology). • Read further exception words, noting the spellings. |
• Apply knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes. (Note: this should be through normal reading rather than direct teaching.) |
To understand texts |
• Discuss events. • Predict events. • Link reading to own experience. • Join in with stories or poems. • Check that reading makes sense and self-correct. • Infer what characters are like from actions. • Ask and answer questions about texts. • Discuss favourite words and phrases. • Listen to and discuss a wide range of texts. • Recognise and join in with (including role-play) recurring language. • Explain and discuss understanding of texts. • Discuss the significance of the title and events. • Make inferences on the basis of what is being said and done. |
• Draw inferences from reading. • Predict from details stated and implied. • Recall and summarise main ideas. • Discuss words and phrases that capture the imagination. • Retrieve and record information from non-fiction, using titles, headings, sub-headings and indexes. • Prepare poems and plays to read aloud with expression, volume, tone and intonation. • Identify recurring themes and elements of different stories (e.g. good triumphing over evil). • Recognise some different forms of poetry. • Explain and discuss understanding of reading, maintaining focus on the topic. • Draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. • Predict what might happen from details stated and implied. • Identify main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise these. • Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning. • Ask questions to improve understanding of a text. |
• Recommend books to peers, giving reasons for choices. • Identify and discuss themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing. • Make comparisons within and across books. • Learn a wide range of poetry by heart. • Prepare poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience. • Check that the book makes sense, discussing understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context. • Ask questions to improve understanding. • Draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence. • Predict what might happen from details stated and implied. • Summarise the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas. • Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning. • Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader. • Retrieve and record information from non-fiction. • Participate in discussion about books, taking turns and listening and responding to what others say. |