Teach Primary Issue 18.7

Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine and Page Turners can be found at shop.scholastic. co.uk/piecorbett Practicalities The impact of your reading spine will hinge on whether children are read to daily, and it’s essential that you get a school-wide strategy in place to ensure this happens. During the EYFS and Key Stage 1, this can take place at various times of the day to build the amount of reading that children experience. These reading sessions are not the time to stop and ask questions, but rather for stories to be experienced simply for the pleasure of a great read. It is worth remembering that pausing to quiz the children associates reading with being asked questions, interrupts the flow of a story, and may mean that it is harder for a child to tie the scenes together and comprehend them. At Key Stage 2, teachers should devote a core time in the day for reading aloud to the class. Schools need to ensure that this happens through the year, and does not get lost amongst the myriad of other pressing demands. Many teachers blend books together, so that a challenging picture book might run alongside a poem that illuminates the same experience or theme. Daily read-aloud sessions are where children experience books that they could not read to themselves; in these sessions, pupils have access to high-quality and challenging books that would otherwise not be experienced. Other books by the core authors, or on similar themes, should be kept in the library area. These can be introduced through weekly ‘recommendation sessions’ with children being given space for their own ‘recommended book’ displays. Over time, a school’s reading spine will shift and change in the light of new books and authors. However, the central core is a child’s WHY EVERY SCHOOL NEEDS A READING SPINE 1 Teachers will become familiar with the core texts and learn how to draw on them for developing comprehension as well for teaching writing. 2 It ensures that all pupils at every level have a minimum, quality entitlement. 3 Not all teachers are familiar with a sufficient range of titles and, without guidance, may overdose on one or two authors (‘death by Dahl’). 4 Teachers may struggle to distinguish between a modern classic and a book that is entertaining, but hardly memorable. A reading spine removes the need to make these decisions. 5 If children are not used to reading, discussing and understanding challenging literature, then they will not be able to cope with the end-of-primary tests (certainly in England, given the challenge of the Year 6 reading SATs), let alone the secondary curriculum or beyond. 6 The right range of reading develops the intellect, alongside a deep appreciation of literature that opens up world culture. enables pupils to discuss how texts can be seen from the author’s, the narrator’s and different characters’ viewpoints, as well as how different readers might view a text. Keeping momentum Once the basic reading spine is in place, the next step is to develop a poetry spine. This could be built around simple ideas, such as a one anthology per term alongside a different poet. Finally, schools can begin to think about which non-fiction texts they want every pupil to experience. Familiarity with great titles provides core book knowledge. This is the school’s reading spine; a mapped-out book curriculum that provides the basic entitlement to experience great literature. TP “Great books begin to build frames of reference that children can use when meeting a new text” entitlement to experience great literature, ensuring diversity and quality. This should cover literature in its broadest sense (novels and picture books, non-fiction and poetry). Great books begin to build frames of reference that children can use when meeting a new text. For instance, once a child has spent time with Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park – for example, working for a week or so considering the four characters’ viewpoints – the book becomes a frame of reference for exploration of other narratives. This 58 | www.teachwire.net