Reading

English Reading Curriculum Statement

In English, students study, use, and enjoy language and literature communicated orally, visually, or in writing.

Beliefs

  • Students need to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable them to be competent and confident readers.
  • Reading is a major part of all curriculum areas and must be a focus for teaching and learning.

Learning Goals

Through our teaching and learning programmes, our students should:

  • Understand and use links between reading, writing, oral, and visual language
  • Become readers who select and read a wide range of texts for pleasure and/or information
  • Make meaning and think critically about texts
  • Use strategies to build comprehension, fluency and accuracy
  • Be successful readers and writers who understand deeper and surface features that will suit the purpose and audience

Teaching and Learning Guidelines

Our teaching and learning programmes will:

  • Reflect the need to give priority to student achievement in literacy – NAG 1 .
  • Identify target groups, including Māori / Pasifika / G&T/ ESOL/ LOTE/ SN           
  • Reflect effective practice i.e. Expectations; Instructional Strategies; Engaging learners with texts; Partnerships; Knowledge of the learner; and Knowledge of literacy learning 
    • Have high expectations for all students 
    • Show patterns of progress through the school 
    • Use deliberate acts of teaching and instructional strategies across the school 
    • Vary approaches to teaching (e.g. shared, guided and independent reading & writing) 
    • Have learning intentions, feedback and next learning steps 
    • Form partnerships within the school and across the community 
    • Use  Professional Development Programmes and Readings to strengthen teachers’ practice
  • Link to key competencies, principles and values
  • Consider the learning environment – intellectual, emotional, physical, and cultural engagement 
  • Relate to National Standards

Planning

  • Programmes will reflect the need to give priority to literacy.
  • The New Zealand Curriculum will provide the basis for the teaching and learning programmes.
  • Refer to MOE resources when planning e.g. Effective Literacy Practice handbooks, TKI, Guided Reading Video Yrs1-3/5-8, Norm-referenced assessment tools, Running Records Handbook, etc.
  • Planning will follow a coherent pathway from curriculum plans to long term plans to unit or weekly planning to teaching and learning 
  • Assessment data and information about students will be used to determine the teaching and learning programme.

Assessment

Information on student achievement will be gathered and analysed through a range of assessment practices.