Outram School

READING PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

The aims of the reading programme at Outram School are to enable students to engage with
and enjoy written language in all its varieties as well as to enable students to understand and
respond to written texts in a range of contexts.

GENERAL

• Children will read for enjoyment and to gain information on a daily basis
• Children will be grouped by ability and interest needs. This could be based on reading
age, processing used or skill based. Groupings are flexible and change over time
• There is not an undue emphasis on the assessable level and moving children ‘up’ levels.
Comprehension and critical literacy are paramount
• Mastery Level is only when a child has gained at least 95% decoding accuracy with at
least 70% comprehension on surface and deeper information.
• A child may be held at a level by the teacher for a variety of reasons and this decision
can include input from parents and colleagues.
• It is expected that teachers will supply a list of the latest reading ages, goals and any
issues of note to the next years teacher.
• Reading Data collection and whole school aggregation occurs twice a year. This is
collated by the Deputy Principal, although all teachers graph each child onto a syndicate
graph and supply data about the number of children at the below, at and above
expectation. This data collection occurs in Term 2 and again at the end of Term 4. The
data that is collected is the instructional level (ie. The level above mastery).
• There is a separate graph for the first 12 months at school and then one for each
syndicate.
• Reading Graphs in the Portfiles are updated twice a year – Term 2 and Term 4.
• The parents of children not making expected progress (trajectory of learning) or
achieving below expectations (level of learning) will be informed of teacher concerns and
where possible involved with providing support to their children. Parents will be advisded
of any children undertaking Reading Recovery or any other ‘remedial or extension’
programmes.
• Summative testing using Probe and PM Benchmarks are unseen texts
• Formative testing is a seen text
• For all reading levels below Orange (Level 1 to Level 14) are seen texts

WHAT THE READING PROGRAMMES INVOLVES

• Reading to with and by children from a range of genre, and for a variety of purposes.
• Opportunities for sustained silent reading
• Reading with children (shared reading)
• Regular Group or individual instruction to teach processing / decoding
• Group or individual instruction to develop skills in critical thinking and exploring language
• Reading of non-fiction and fiction materials
• Home reading. The text should be of a mastery level for the child (at least 95%
accuracy) or the instructional level reading material that was read in class that day
• Reading activities do not involve writing activities as a focus. The intent is that reading
activities need to be broad.
JUNIOR SCHOOL PROGRAMMES:

• If the reading age is less than 7 years the children are monitored particularly closely.
Generally teachers will running record the children when they feel they are ready for the
next level. This may be as often as every 2-3 weeks for New Entrants, monthly for Year 2
and on a needs basis from this stage on.
• All teachers have their own individual copies of the children’s reading graphs to keep a
progress check on their children. These are updated on a needs basis and all diagnostic
testing should be summarised on the reading graph. The Portfile graph is updated twice
a year.
• Instructional Reading groups occur 3-4 times a week
• PM Benchmarks are used for running records for summative assessment. They are not
used for general assessment purposes.
• SEA is administered for gathering of baseline data on school entry for all children
• 6 year Net is used for those children that are identified as below expectations or at risk
through the classroom programme.
• There is a focus on phonological awareness for early readers. It is vital that all requisite
skills are in place first.
Oral language Phonological Awareness Word attack
skills for vocabulary
• Phonological Awareness Programme (Phonics Training) is undertaken in all Year 0-3
classrooms for 15 minutes a day as part of the Literacy programmes.
• Daily reader is sent home each night and the reading notebook filled out. The parent is
to sign the notebook each day. Some children may have a list of high frequency reading
words to learn in back of their notebook.
• Children should be aware of their learning goals for reading and be able to articulate
them. Learning Intention’s will be shared as an integral part of the programme.

SENIOR SCHOOL PROGRAMMES:

• PROBE is the tool to be used for running records of children above Level 30 on PM
Benchmark and these are done on a needs basis. All children are expected to be
monitored in Term 2 and Term 4 for portfiles and school wide data collection. Each child
will be assessed using formal testing at least twice a year.
• Instructional reading should occur for all children 3-4 times a week. For 10+years RA
readers at least weekly and more often for less able readers. Readers less than 7yrs RA
will generally have daily instructional reading.
• Instructional programme has an emphasis on Critical Literacy. This includes planned
questioning using Blooms taxonomy and questioning to develop deep understanding of
texts
• Reading programme will generally be 40-60 minutes daily and for 10+RA children may
include aspects of Inquiry topic – with explicit teaching of required skills.
• Learning Intentions for groups and individuals will be shared with the children as well as
next steps. Children should be able to articulate their learning goals. Group goals will be
displayed in classrooms.
• PROBE sets are kept by the classroom teacher and the syndicate leader also holds a
copy
SENCO and SUPPORT

• Senco programmes are provided as support to the classroom programme.

• Alphabet/phonological awareness/Talk to Learn/etc groups are needs based
programmes with a further emphasis on phonological awareness
• Reading Recovery referrals are done from the 6 year net data. The BoT supports the RR
programme through the allocation of staffing.

GUIDELINES FOR SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE MATERIALS

• Reading Material is not to be used at a lower level (ie, year 6’s are not to read year 7 and
8 novels) but lower level reading materials can be used in the older part of the school
• Part 1,2, 3, 4 Journals are stored in the Resource Room
• Novel sets are in the Junior Resource Room
• All junior books (to Level 30 and all novel sets as well Junior Journals) are stored in the
Junior Resource Room
• PM Benchmark kits are stored in the Junior Resource Room
• All readers not being used for instructional groups, browsing boxes, etc should be
reshelved in the appropriate place. Children are NOT to reshelve books.

Key Support Material and Resources:

PROBE
6Yr Net
SEA Test
Benchmark Kit
Phonics Training (www.phonicstraining.co.nz)

SOME POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING TEXT LEVEL

Our goal is critical literacy, ie; children are actively thinking about the text. Children are
learning to interpret text independently. Every time children read, it is not just about
getting the “words right”, but that the understanding is correct.

Guidelines for questioning outside of beginning reading

Levels 15 – 22 70-80% Literal Questions

20-30% Inferential
Levels 22+ About 50% each

• Children often plateau around 8 years because they are not processing enough print.
Guided Silent Reading alone cannot drive up reading age. Children also need mileage at
easy to read levels
• By reading age around 8 years, children probably have processing in place.

• By reading age around 11 years they are functionally literate. They can probably read
the newspaper.
• Guided reading should occur at levels where every child in the group can read the text
without difficulty so that the teaching can focus on processing, not decoding
• If there are too many challenges in a text, it should be approached through shared rather
 than guided reading
GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING JOURNAL LEVELS

Journals are not full of material at one reading age – you cannot just move from story to
story.

They are organised by interest level

Junior Journals 7-8yrs Levels 17 - 22

Part 1 8-9yrs Levels 22 - 25
Part 2 9-10-11yrs Levels 25 - 29
Part 3 11-12-13yrs Levels 29 - Beyond
Part 4 12-13-14yrs Beyond

School Journal Library

Aimed at reluctant readers at the 9-10 year level

Journal of Young People’s Writing (JYPW)

Varied, but aims at children 10-12 years

Connected
Three are put out a year and the content becomes more complex. These also vary, but
approximately:
Connected 1 8-9 years
Connected 2 10-11 years
Connected 3 12-13 years

We do not have a policy for using certain journals in certain years but here are some
suggestions:

• Obviously for really strong readers, you need to use your own judgement, but bear in
mind that many strong readers end up being held around the 10-12 year Reading Age as
their comprehension doesn’t match their ability to decode text.

• Consider text types, not just text level

 GUIDELINES FOR USE OF READING MATERIALS

Year PM Sunshine Ashtons Journals Novels Other

Level s etc
Y1 + 2  

Yr 2 –
Junior
Journals
Y3+4   Core Junior Year 3 &
Library Journals 4 on
shelf
Bookshel Part 1
f Stage 4 (list the
Part 2 children
who have
(older read on
children) the side of
the box)
Connecte
d1
Y5+6   Core Part 2 Year 5 &
Library 6 on
Part 3 shelf
Bookshel
f 5, 6 Connecte (list the
d series children
who have
1,2 read on
the side of
JYPW the box)

School
Journal
Library
Y7+8 As As needed Core Part 3 Year 7 &
needed Library 8 on
Part 4 shelf
Bookshel
f stage 7 Connecte (list the
d 2, 3 children
who have
read on
School the side of
Journal the box)
Library

JYPW