GLF Schools

GLF Schools

GLF Schools was founded in 2012 in order to enable the federation of Glyn School (an academy in 2011) and Danetree Junior School. Together, we began our journey to become a MAT of more than 1000 talented staff working with over 10,000 children in 40 schools across 5 regions in southern England.

Our Schools

Banbury Region

Banstead Region

Berkshire & Hampshire Region

Caterham Region

Crawley Region

Didcot Region

Epsom Region

London Boroughs

Redhill Region

Sunbury & Camberley Region

Welcome to The Vale’s Reading page.  

Reading is an essential skill which stimulates children’s imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills, which are vital in all aspects of learning.   

 

At The Vale, we work hard to support children and provide them with the essential components of reading.  

 

In the infants, we use Read Write Inc Phonics to support children from the outset of their reading journey. They are systematically taught all of the common sounds in the English language, which helps them to recognise the sounds and blend them into words for reading. The children benefit from daily phonics sessions from Reception up to Year 2. They are frequently assessed and grouped to ensure children are supported and challenged at an appropriate level for their ability. In the summer term, the children in Year 1 focus on comprehension, whilst also preparing for the national Phonics Screening Check.  

 

There are four aspects which contribute and underpin the key skill of comprehension.  

 

During their time at The Vale, children focus on developing their retrieval and inference skills. They also practice making predictions sequencing and summarising stories.   

 

We ensure children are provided with opportunities for reading for pleasure and we are very lucky to have a wide range of reading texts in our library. At The Vale, we have a buddy reading system where children in the infants partner with a class in the juniors. This is a fantastic opportunity to promote a love of reading.  

 

Definitions

Retrieval – Retrieval is often one of the first skills to be developed by a child in school. Children have to pick out information from a text in order to answer questions about it.  

Inference – Inference is a child’s interpretation of a text which goes beyond what the author has literally written. 

Reception Reading Comprehension Questions

Reception – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • What is happening in the picture? 

  • How is the character feeling? 

  • Where does this story take place? 

  • When did the story take place? 

  • Describe the main character. (Young, old, friendly, miserable, lonely, popular…) 

  • Where do they live? 

  • Who are the characters in the book? 

Sequencing 

  • What happened in the story? 

  • How does the story make you feel? 

  • What do you think about the ending of the story? 

Prediction 

  • Does the character remind you of anyone? 

  • Why do you think the character did that? 

  • Why do you think the character did that? 

  • What do you think will happen next? 

 

Year 1 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 1 Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • Can you describe what you have just read in your own words? 

  • Who solved the problem in the story? What did they do? 

  • What was the first thing that happened in the story? 

  • Can you list 3 main events in the story? 

  • Has this ever happened to you? 

  • Do you know someone like this? 

  • Could this happen here? 

Sequencing 

  • Use three sentences to describe the beginning, middle and end of this text? 

  • What happened at each part of the story? 

Inference 

  • How can you tell whether the character is happy or sad? 

  • Why do you think it is summer/winter? 

  • Was the character good or bad? Explain your answer? 

  • Why do you think the character did what they did? 

  • Can you explain why? 

Prediction 

  • From the title, what do you think might happen in this book? 

  • From the title, what character might we find in this book/ 

  • Look at the cover/title/first few lines. What do you think will happen next? How have they helped you come up with this idea? 

  • What do you think will happen to the character? Why do you think this? 

  • What do you think might happen next? Why do you think that? 

Year 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 2 – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • Can you describe what you have just read in your own words? 

  • Who solved the problem in the story? What did they do? 

  • What was the first thing that happened in the story? 

  • Can you list 3 main events in the story? 

  • Where in the book would you find…? 

  • What is the setting of the story? 

  • Can you find X fact in the story? 

  • Which specific word / phrase tells you that…? 

  • Which words are the most important to read and understand in this sentence? 

  • Which are the adjectives? Nouns? 

Sequencing 

  • Use three sentences to describe the beginning, middle and end of this text? 

  • Sort these sentences form the story in order. 

  • What does character X do in the middle of the story? 

  • What happened at the end / start of the story? 

Inference 

  • Was the character good or bad? Explain your answer? 

  • Why do you think the character did what they did? 

  • What evidence do you have to justify your opinion? Can you show me where? 

  • Can you explain why? 

  • Explain the passage you have just read in your own words. What are the important points? Why are these the important points? 

  • Why do you think the author choose those words/phrases? 

  • Why do you think the author wrote this text? 

  • What do you think the author intended when they wrote this? Why do you think this? 

Prediction 

  • From the title, what do you think might happen in this book? 

  • From the title, what character might we find in this book/ 

  • Look at the cover/title/first few lines. What do you think will happen next? How have they helped you come up with this idea? 

  • What do you think will happen to the character? Why do you think this? 

  • What do you think might happen next? Why do you think that? 

Year 3 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 3 – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • Can you summarise what you have just read? 

  • What was the key event or point? 

  • Where did this passage take place? 

  • Can you find…? 

  • Show me where… 

  • Can you find me the names of the characters/setting? 

  • What would you use a fiction / non-fiction text for? 

  • What type of text is this? How do you know? 

  • What purpose does x feature have in this text? 

Inference 

  • What do you think might happened next? Why? 

  • Why did this character behave in this way? 

  • What are the key messages from this passage? 

  • Why do you think they felt this way? 

  • What atmosphere is the author trying to create? 

Language 

  • Can you explain the meaning of … word? 

  • Can you find the adjectives/similes/adverbs in the text? 

  • What effect does this word have on the meaning of the text? 

  • Why has the author chosen the words… to describe the character/setting? 

  • Which words from this passage could you use in your own writing? 

  • Why has the author used a short sentence in this paragraph? 

Responding to text 

  • Why do you think the author wrote this text? 

  • What message is the author trying to tell us? 

  • What happened on this page? 

  • How does the author want you to feel? 

  • What do you think the author was thinking when they wrote this? 

  • What was … thinking when he did that? 

Themes and conventions 

  • How is this book similar to one you have read before? 

  • Is this story set in this country? How do we know this? 

Year 4 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 4 – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • Can you summarise the text in X sentences? 

  • How do you know that these are the main points? 

  • Find and tell me one word/group of words that tell you the character… 

  • What would help you scan for a character’s name? 

  • What are the main organisation features that have been used in this text? 

  • How do bullet points help the reader understand the text? 

  • How does the layout of the story help build suspense? 

Inference 

  • What do you think might happened next? Why? 

  • Were you expecting the character to act this way? Why? 

  • How is the character acting? What evidence have we got that suggests they are going this? 

  • Why do you think you think the character has acted like that? 

  • Can you think of any reasons why this character has decided to behave like that? 

Language 

  • Can you explain the meaning of … word? 

  • Can you find examples of expanded noun phrases/adverbial phrase/ simile in the text? 

  • What does … mean? 

  • Why has the writer chosen to use this word? 

  • Can you identify a range of sentence types that have been used in this text? 

  • Which words do you think you could use in your own writing/spoken language? 

Responding to text 

  • Why has this text been written? 

  • How do you think the writer wants the reader to react to the text? 

  • What do we mean by viewpoint, or point of view in a text? 

Themes and conventions 

  • How is this book similar to one you have read before? 

  • Is this story set in this country? How do we know this? 

Year 5 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 5 – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • What do you think is the main event/point/message in this section of the text? 

  • Find and tell me one word/group of words that tells you the character… 

  • If I wanted to know about… which part of the text should I look at? 

  • Can you quickly trace your eyes over the text to find the main characters? 

  • What type of text could this be? 

  • What type of characters does this author include in their stories? 

  • When you look at this text, what is the first thing you notice? 

Inference 

  • Ask children to predict at several points in the text, including at the end. What do you think is going to happen in the next few paragraphs? 

  • Were you expecting…to happen at that point? Why? Why not? 

  • What does the description of the setting/character tell us about the genre of this story? 

  • Do you think this was the correct way to behave? Why? Why not? 

  • Do you think the characters have reasons for behaving like that? 

Language 

  • Why do you think the author chose this word instead of…? 

  • What devices have been used in this text that help with the description? 

  • Why would the author choose to use this word? 

  • Which of these words would be good to use in your writing? 

  • What do you notice about the sentence structure in this text? 

Responding to text 

  • Why has the writer used diagrams in this text? 

  • Can you find evidence from the beginning, middle and end to support your view of the character? 

  • Are these characters similar or different? 

Themes and conventions 

  • What would you say the theme of this text could be? What evidence is there to suggest that this could be the theme? 

  • Can you work out / do you know the time in history which this text is set? 

Year 6 Reading Comprehension Questions

Year 6 – Reading Comprehension Questions 

Retrieval  

  • Who/What/Where/Why/How/When…? 

  • What event made...want to/do…? 

  • What conclusion does…draw from this…? 

  • Using information from the text, is this true or false? 

  • What do you think is the main event/point/message in this section of the text? 

  • Find and tell me one word/group of words that tells you the character… 

  • If I wanted to know about… which part of the text should I look at? 

  • Can you quickly trace your eyes over the text to find the main characters? 

  • What type of text could this be? 

  • What type of characters does this author include in their stories? 

  • When you look at this text, what is the first thing you notice? 

Inference 

  • Ask children to predict at several points in the text, including at the end. What do you think is going to happen in the next few paragraphs? 

  • Were you expecting…to happen at that point? Why? Why not? 

  • What does the description of the setting/character tell us about the genre of this story? 

  • Do you think this was the correct way to behave? Why? Why not? 

  • Do you think the characters have reasons for behaving like that? 

  • Why did … feel…? 

  • What else in the text tells us that …? 

  • Explain how…felt about it…? 

Language 

  • Why do you think the author chose this word instead of…? 

  • What devices have been used in this text that help with the description? 

  • Why would the author choose to use this word? 

  • Which of these words would be good to use in your writing? 

  • What do you notice about the sentence structure in this text? 

  • Explain why the word…has been used? 

  • What do phrases like…tell us? 

  • Why did the author use this simile? 

  • Give one example of the use of (e.g. humour) in the text.  

Responding to text 

  • Why has the writer used diagrams in this text? 

  • Can you find evidence from the beginning, middle and end to support your view of the character? 

  • Are these characters similar or different? 

Themes and conventions 

  • What would you say the theme of this text could be? What evidence is there to suggest that this could be the theme? 

  • Can you work out / do you know the time in history which this text is set? 

Reading Progression

Reading-Progression