Curriculum Information

If you require further information about any aspects of our school curriculum please contact us via the office or speak to your child’s class teacher.

We follow Read Write Inc in our approach to Phonics and follow their scheme. Our end of year expectations are:

End of pre-school – secure phase 1 (from Letters and Sounds Phonics Scheme)

End of reception – secure Set 1 & 2

End of year 1 – secure Set 3

These are floor standards and many of our children are working at a higher level than this. All children take home a phonics book specific to the sounds that they have been taught so they can apply these sounds when segmenting and blending and build fluency in their reading skills.

We follow the PM Benchmark reading scheme throughout the school where children will stay until they achieve a level of PM 30. This is assessed every 6 weeks in order to ensure that every child is reading the right book at the right level.  Our end of year expectations are:

End of reception – PM 8

End of year 1 – PM 15

End of year 2 – PM 20

End of year 3 – PM 24

End of year 4 – PM 26

End of Year 5 – PM 30

In addition children read ‘real’ books which they select from the library in a weekly slot. We use the Scholastic Pro reading system whereby children select books which match their lexile level and areas of interest. Once read the children undertake a low stakes quiz to allow teachers to monitor their comprehension skills and ensure they are moved up to more challenging texts as a result.  Every 6 weeks all children from year 3 – 6 (and some year 2 children who are ready) undertake a diagnostic reading screen which will determine their lexile level.  This ensures that teachers can monitor all children and ensure that any children who are not making the expected progress are picked up, areas of weakness are identified and gaps are closed. Our end of year expectations are:

End of year 2 – 480L

End of year 3 – 600L

End of year 4 – 700L

End of Year 5 – 880L

End of year 6  – 1000L

Once again these are floor not ceiling standards and many of our children are reading at a higher level than the set end of year expectations.

At Greystoke we appreciate the value of hearing stories being read aloud and know how this can help foster a love of reading in all our children.  We have curated a rich bank of class reading books which are read by an adult to the class in our whole class reading slot after lunch every single day. Every year group has one or two texts per half term and these texts have been chosen with careful consideration to avoid stereotypical characters, to ensure authors are from different cultures and parts of the world and that diversity is reflected in both the authors and the characters/ protagonists within the text eg: race, culture, neuro diversity, female characters in stereotypically male roles.

Whole Class Reading List – Spring Term
Whole Class Reading List – Autumn Term