Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
TITLE
BEST PRACTICE DIRECTORY READING
1
Title Academy Aspinal Oasis
IMPACT: % at expected
90
% at higher standard
10
Progress
OASIS ACADEMY ASPINAL 2
2017
+2.7
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Incorporate books into English where possible and use high level texts and integrate comprehension activities and lots of discussion around use of language especially authors techniques and character/setting inference.
E.g. During WW2 topic we studied Good Night Mr Tom, War horse, Carries war also used specific chapters/sections from Horrible history type nonfiction books – especially in afternoon topic slots.
Author areas in classrooms – make these a huge feature and opportunity for teacher to model reading aloud and questioning and discussing. 20 mins at the end of every single day without fail! High quality texts.
EG Michael Morpurgo, Hunger games/maze runner series and Classic fiction – Wizard of Oz – good opp to discuss more traditional language used that children don’t tend to use.
Use the Ipads/Internet for research as much as possible – it pops up with LOTS of information on one page and the children get used to looking through it to find out what they want to know – skimming and scanning.
EG if writing about trenches tell them nothing! Find out for themselves – collect vocab – use dictionaries along the way and find out together but the ownership is on children to find out and trawl through the information.
Closer to SATs – extra slots for quick games and activities – word search type activity where children are against the clock to locate all of the given words in the text passage as quickly as possible – tried to beat their time each lesson. (Got these off TES as a PowerPoint). Throw new words at the children all the time! Even in general conversation to develop vocabulary. Shuffle timetable round each half term to put in extra slots for reading practise for tests when needed. Accelerated reader used in school – children to take reading comprehension quiz about home reading books before changing – huge rewards system and incentives linked to this – see rewards section.
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Monitoring • Assess every half term – used Accelerated reader – reading age this year and raw scores from SATs papers. Sit chn in these groups when doing reading aspects in English lessons. • Identify key chn in Working towards bracket – NOT below – and push them. • 1:1 reading volunteers for children who are below to take them out in afternoon sessions. Prep for testing • Skim and scan for answers! • DO NOT read the text through – start the questions straight away by identifying which section you need to read to answer them. • Always start with the non-fiction text. • Before choosing an answer if multi choice – tick and cross next to the answers what you think then check the text.
• Then go back and do all answers with only 1 line, then 2 lines then longer answers. • If it says 2 marks write 2 different sentences to explain. • With difficult vocab read the sentence and replace the word you don’t know with one you do that would make sense – or use suffixes/prefixes to help work it out. • All vulnerable children who are borderline have an adult sat next to them to keep them moving on using the phrase “What next?”
OASIS ACADEMY ASPINAL
• Answer ALL multiple choice, tick boxes, tables and short answers first – in that order – for texts 1,2 and 3.
3
Strategies that made the difference Working with parents • Home reading records to be signed every night in Y6 – chn to read for a minimum of 10 mins every night. • Reading records rigorously checked without fail every day by class TA and children who have not had it signed to stay in at playtime to read for their 10 minutes then. • Spoke to parents in September to outline expectations for home reading and the consequences. • Parents evening question any parents who are not reading at home and why not – hold them to account. Celebration and challenge • SATS results read out loud in front of the class – pupil accountability for their own results and pride. • Reward display linked to AReader – if child scores 100% they put name up on display in school library and their name goes into prize draw for Kindle at end of term. • Certificates for children who have quizzed the most during the term.
OASIS ACADEMY ASPINAL 4
• Certificates for children who read 4 or more times a week. Wider reading opportunities • Use of purple mash for children to access Ipads – read a chapter and take an online quiz about it. • Dictionary and thesaurus use during Spelling sessions every morning – development of vocabulary and accurate use and understanding. • Use of spelling apps such as Alan Peat spell fix clues to words enhance understanding of vocab.
Resources that you would recommend
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Any other area • 1:1 reading sessions for key marginal children. • Easter booster sessions involved board games and interactive activities for reading such as card game of guess the location based on inference skills – from TWINKL. • Comprehension board games from YPO. • Use of Lit shed videos for inference sessions – discussion based only. • Target list of readers each half term laminated up on classroom wall and during silent reading sessions hear them at least twice a week each. Change them round each half term to focus on WT pupils – not below!
OASIS ACADEMY ASPINAL 5
Oasis Academy Byron Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend CPG Study books, Core Books, Power of Reading.
Teaching and Leadership • PiXL approach which identified key marginals and provides resources to use for intervention and individual personal learning checklists identifying areas to work on. Regular tracking and assessment using PiXL materials. IMPACT: % at expected
96
% at higher standard
23
Progress
OASIS ACADEMY BYRON 6
2017
+4.4
• Flexible approach to teaching involving fluid interventions, which vary weekly according to need and is a personalised learning approach. • Involvement of children in knowing their areas for development and what they need to do to improve. • The academy employs an additional teacher for 2 days a week so the class teacher is able to identify gaps in children’s knowledge and understanding on a daily basis and either the class teacher or support teacher can quickly fill them. This enables rapid progress to be made. • Staff team in Year 6 are experienced and skilled in supporting children to feel positive about their learning and want to do their best. • Identification of children across the academy who are below expected at the beginning of the year – regular focus.
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Whole School Approach • Use of Premier Reading Stars in Year 5 for an identified group of boys which improved engagement and motivation. • Raising profile of reading across the school through working on a Reading for Pleasure Policy as a whole staff. • Adopting Pie Corbett reading spines across the school with children being read aloud to daily. Teachers model enthusiasm for books, discuss word choice and plot. This helps to improve children’s comprehension of the story and their vocabulary even if the book being read is beyond their ability. • Reading areas developed to promote a love of reading. • Quiet reading slots during the week. • In EYFS using 5-6-10 and 5-6-20 reading diaries (10 minutes a day, 5 times a week for 6 weeks). • At KS1 and EYFS a modified SFA curriculum is used and individual reading is supplemented using reading volunteers and BeanStalk.
• Positivity of staff and a growth mindset approach by all.
OASIS ACADEMY BYRON
• Phonics is taught strategically and rigorously and gaps are identified and filled. An additional teacher is used 2 days a week and the Year 1 teacher is an SLE in Phonics.
7
Oasis Academy Connaught Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Daily Comprehension work – year 6 – same time allocated as for maths fully implemented from January.
We just used the Scholfield and SIMS books and PiXL papers and CPG books.
Reworked timetable for this to happen so morning – 3 hour slots – Year 6 didn’t come to assembly.
IMPACT: % at expected
71
% at higher standard
29
Progress
OASIS ACADEMY CONNAUGHT 8
2017
+4.3
PiXL principles embedded in Academy with a total dedication on what each child needed – PiXL taught by year 6 teachers (small year group allowed for this) QLA used well.
PiXL really supported and we had a great associate.
Determination and dedication of year 6 teachers and students – the teachers gave it their all for the SATs and worked extremely hard on supporting children small class sizes helped as they were able to hear individual readers and really secure those gaps in knowledge. Reading has been at the heart of the Academy Development Plan for the last 4 years and the whole staff have worked hard at developing these skills – having a Reading Recovery Teacher to set up the systems has been instrumental and all staff have had strong professional development.
Reading Recovery.
Systems include: BRP, volunteers, award system development of High Ability Reading groups through Reading Gladiators. Reading LSA – supporting those who previously would have not passed – read with children at least 3 times a week to improve stamina and speed. Year 5 teachers last year supported reading well including very high quality guided reading daily. Nurture support for those children in need and 3 year 6 children who would have disrupted learning had individual out of class curriculums.
Reading Recovery.
Oasis Academy Hobmoor
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Introduction of Accelerated Reader in Years 3 – 6
Accelerated Reader
Timetabled daily reading sessions for every class of half an hour (children read individually) All children listened to 1:1 weekly (during reading slots) IMPACT:
2017
Competitions between classes for Accelerated Reader categories
% at expected
85
Focus on the 3 main types of questions in SATs
% at higher standard
18
Reading questions prior to texts in tests (key marginal pupils especially)
Progress
+3.4
Daily open sessions in Nursery and Reception at the start of the day for parents to share books with their children
OASIS ACADEMY HOBMOOR
Before and after school SATs tuition clubs delivered by Y6 teachers, Principal and Deputy Principal
9
Oasis Academy Limeside Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Small group literacy circles after school every night.
Quality texts linked to the curriculum map
HA booster group 8:30 every morning. Reading incorporated into every English lesson.
IMPACT:
2017
% at expected
100
% at higher standard
23
Progress
+3.6
Emphasis on clarifying and summarising as vital aspect of all reading. Daily half hour guided read or response to class text for all children. Daily half hour guided read with teacher for LA group. Emphasis on inference and monitoring understanding working from very small sections of text to larger sections of text. Ambitious, challenging texts so all children learn to work at understanding.
OASIS ACADEMY LIMESIDE 10
We can offer support through the teaching school for inference and comprehension
Oasis Academy Shirley Park Strategies that made the difference
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Resources that you would recommend
Establish groups and track progress Plot Oasis Assessment Framework on a calendar and then set additional in-house half termly mocks for Year 6. Use outcomes alongside teacher judgment to plot progress, amend groupings and teach to gaps. IMPACT:
2017
% at expected
85
% at higher standard
18
Progress
+2.5
Past SATS as directed by OCL and as well as Year 6 PiXL assessments End of Year 5 – PiXL Reading Test
Log raw scores for each mock for comparison over time as well as utilising the PiXL combined tracker to help target areas of weakness. Establish teaching groups for the whole cohort (determined by reading ability), as well as smaller groups for interventions including PiXL Key Marginal Children by the end of Year 5 to launch as soon as the new school year begins. • Year 6 staff teach interventions in Year 5 after SATs Week to get to know the Year 5 cohort and their abilities • Year 5 cohort sit PiXL Reading Test in second half of Summer Term • Year 5 and 6 staff meet with senior leaders to look at progress over time as well as outcomes of the PiXL test Split entire Year 6 cohort by ability two ways from September, and then 3 ways from Christmas. Review grouping for every child every half term, but have flexibility to move children between groups as soon as the need is identified.
OASIS ACADEMY SHIRLEY PARK
Evidence to determine initial Year 6 groups:
11
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Autumn Term Daily experience focussing specifically on the individual skills that are to be assessed at the end of the Key Stage across a range of text types. More time is given to inference, fact retrieval and word meaning question types as these make up the large majority of questions assessed. (We found that by doing this the children began to realise exactly what they needed to do to answer each type of question and how much depth they needed to go into to get all the available marks.)
CGP SATs Buster Reading materials Books 1-3 and answer book.
Spring Term onwards
OASIS ACADEMY SHIRLEY PARK 12
From the start of the Spring term the children still get daily experience of reading a text and answering questions but now the different type of questions are mixed up as they will be in the SATs.
Sections taken from example test papers, practice papers that are not being used as formal assessments.
As working quickly and effectively under time pressure is also an important skill the children require, from February the children complete weekly set tasks for homework where they have to complete short reading assessments within a ten minute period. In addition to this, in class the children are always given the same amount of time (20 minutes which is the same amount as a section of the SATs paper) to complete a section of the test to get used to how quickly they need to work.
KS2 English SAT Buster, 10-Minute Tests – From Feb – Homework. After 10 minutes another coloured pen.
Targeted intervention groups. Children who would benefit from these are identified at the end of Year 5 and then again at regular intervals throughout the year. These groups take place twice weekly and work to help children to improve in the specific areas identified during class teaching as well as through analysis of assessments. Regular discussions take place between class teachers and those running the interventions to help inform and guide the interventions as well as to discuss the progress of the children.
PiXL Therapies
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Typical lesson structure • Format – 90 min English session
CGP SATs Buster
• 10-15 minutes – Pacey Specific grammar skills • 20-30 minutes – Pacey Specific reading skills – Process – 1st day – read and answer questions in sections. Go through answers and model using visualizers • Inference/Fact retrieval/word meaning • Go through it • Still have language questions/chronological questioning • Year 5 started from Easter • 40-45 mins – writing – grammar • PiXL Homework packs 10 for 10. 10 minute reading sessions for each day. • PiXL Highlighted children – Teach everything. Freedom to do what was right for group • After Xmas – Old SATs papers/PiXL/CGP Practice papers – One section of test – Piece to read, 20 minutes to answer questions. Build awareness of test technique and stamina. Extra 10 minutes to purple pen. Tuesday – Go through answers with purple pen. Stay in at break time if didn’t do it. • Wednesday – Second part of test.
OASIS ACADEMY SHIRLEY PARK
• Reading Text –
13
Oasis Skinner Street Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Data context for OASS:
•
Celebrated and dedicated reading space
• Very low starting points on entry to the Academy with low literacy rates in the community
•
Phil Mcdermott story time
•
www.thestoryemporium.co.uk/reviews/reviewsof-phils-story-spinner
•
Power of Reading – incredibly useful in Year 5 to ignite passion for reading. Use of plans has to be altered significantly for Year 6 but the love of reading was already embedded from these high quality texts
•
Reading club – library (lunchtimes and after school) and quiet reading area on the playground.
•
Reading Champions – older students paired with younger students – given a special lanyard to ‘brand’ the job.
• 2016 Early years baseline – 93% well below age expectations (focus is on self-care and managing feelings) IMPACT:
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET 14
2017
% at expected
81
% at higher standard
40
Progress
+6.7
• Significant reduction in local provision; closing of local libraries • Highly mobile cohorts with significant Safeguarding challenges • Legacy of school failure….not better than Satisfactory/RI for over 15 years • Education seen by many parents as being wholly devolved to the school – little or no historic culture of reading • Huge barrier to self-esteem and academic progress The present. Year 6 reading progress and attainment data. OASS best practice follows these steps… 1. Establishing the reading culture 2. Promoting the culture 3. Know the gaps and fill them. 4. Understand the system 5. Remember it is not the whole story
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Establishing the reading culture: • Create a space where reading is sacred, relaxed, enjoyable and the only thing that is expected. Regularly maintained reading spaces in each classroom are a must. (photos available of book corners in each classroom) • Give reading displays a high profile – each classroom, as well as reading spaces and some corridors, should carry reading displays that celebrate the actual practice of reading. Competitions like ‘caught reading’ (featuring teachers/pupils reading in unusual poses/places have been inspirational, recommendations of reading material from teachers/non-teaching adults, as well as pupils have been featured. • Reading displays, here, have been given a high profile inc World Book Day display (which won £1,000 in a national competition). Use this as an opportunity to celebrate the children’s imagination.
• (From the World Book Day display press release… ‘Oasis Academy Skinner Street truly a school of books! • Academy comes third in prestigious World Book Day display competition; the only school in Medway and Kent to place, with over 76,000 children being entered for the “world of stories” event this year “Imagine if you could capture your favourite stories and bottle them up in a locked jar, how amazing would that be?” Kylie Fosbraey Y6
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET
• Use opportunities/excuses to get everyone involved. Use publicity shots as display and content for newsletters and other communication with parents to cover events like World Book Day.
15
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Strength: Promoting the culture: • Use opportunities to make it understood how important reading is… • (Staff voted to give up the old staff room to turn it into a Library) • Ensure accurate book banding and ensure quality rich texts available • STAR time • At the end of each day, everyone Sits Together And Reads • Golden certificates each week for most improved readers-Assembly recognition • Range of book fairs and discounted opportunities to buy texts
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET 16
• EAL early reading interventions – CUKU • Catch up, Keep up • Provide continual recognition for reading at home. • Variety of reading material. • STAR time daily – Sit together and read. Vary between reading own book, teacher story time, use of online story teller videos. • Curriculum diet: Yr 6 dedicated reading lesson 1 hr daily • Specific daily Guided reading slots • Mix of skills including speed, retrieval and inference • All Key Marginal children read out loud, to an adult, each and every day • Each class has a weekly timetabled reading session• Reading records, homework, Guided reading, Inference reading, speed reading
Use of Pokemon/current trend reward chart to encourage home reading and reading for pleasure.
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
• Focus on language and vocabulary.
Teaching words with images – word wall.
• Allow children time to use dictionaries to learn new words and explore and embed vocab
Games to reinforce – Bingo, Vo-back-ulary etc
• Teach vocabulary explicitly including vocabulary of questions: teaching question types.
Word of the day/week display and house points for use of this word orally and written.
• Quick practise of test questions from test base 15 minutes daily • Use of PiXL reading comprehensions and all PiXL resources – particularly the question stems (older children create their own questions from a text – enables you to link texts to the writing outcome)
Reading meet – Attached Mrs P Teach – read with RIC – good for starters.
• Speed reading interventions(all PiXL resources)
www.mrspteach.com
• CGP books – comprehension split into question types according to new curriculum.
CGP comprehension books.
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET
Past papers, school run papers, CGP papers, PiXL papers, Twinkl papers – split into sections (20 mins per session)
17
Strategies that made the difference For staff… Assessment Without Levels and the more rigorous testing has provided a challenge for us all Need to ensure that all staff understand to teach, explicitly: • Skim and scan reading for retrieval • The usual comprehension strategies • The need for inference and the associated skills For pupils… • Remove the mystery • Practise the skills each and every day so that they become second nature
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET 18
• Vary the stimulus – the results are more important for us than they are for them • Ensure that they are enjoying the process DO NOT REINVENT THE WHEEL The answers are already out there: Internally • From each other. Powerful work from the Year RIN and support from Oasis Academy Byron • Looking at excellent work across our family; Oasis Academy Ryelands Externally • CLPE/Power of Reading. Superb, rich texts with training for all staff • PiXL
Resources that you would recommend
Oasis Community Learning Best Practice Directory 2017/18
Strategies that made the difference
Resources that you would recommend
Reading Know the gaps and fill them: Assessment, Tracking, Have children read to Principal each week – all to read to an adult
Gap analysis tools from test papers (PiXL, PUMA and PiRA)
Assessment Carousel on Friday Children split into small groups with similar ability and focused on test practice. • Assessment • Tracking • Have KM children read to Headteacher each week Data use: tracking something as simple as whether there is evidence that pupils have read at home that day
What a reading lesson looks like in OASS 15 mins: Dictionary work and vocab games. • Teacher has a selection of vocabulary on IWB (linked with the comprehension that you will be doing in class) • Children have time to look these up on dictionary and go through definitions as a whole class. • Vocabulary games such as Bingo, Vo-back-ulary (name of game) children must describe what a word means to a partner and they have to guess what the word is. Spelling games Differentiation: All new vocabulary should be displayed in the classroom to support children, for LA children, images connected to the word help scaffold them when playing the game. 15mins: Find and copy reading meet (attached) 20mins: Reading comprehension from Testbase, PiXL, Twinkl etc Can be a mixture of timed and whole class teaching based on level of class
OASIS ACADEMY SKINNER STREET
Data use: gap analysis for specific reading skills from a reading paper
Final 10mins: Plenary, recap on vocab, consolidate learning Remember, it’s only part of their journey.
19