Reading

We aim to foster a love of books and reading from your child’s first day at school.  We believe children need to read and want them to enjoy it. Children bring books home from Nursery onwards. We hold Book Fairs and dress up for World Book Day to promote a love of books and reading. We regularly update reading stock and purchase new interesting books.

In EYFS and KS1 we develop children's understanding of letters and sounds through teaching of synthetic phonics.  The daily phonics lesson help children to decode words they encounter each day when reading and they use this knowledge as they grow to spell new words when writing.

There are lots of reading opportunities in class and children regularly read texts alongside the class teacher in all areas of the curriculum. All children from Y2 onwards take part in Guided reading, a taught reading session which focuses on skills. Children look through a book at a suitable level and discuss ideas, meaning and styles. Children remind each other what to do if they get stuck on a word when reading. Reading is taught throughout the school until the end of Y6.

All children are encouraged to use the school library.

Parents support.

All parents are given a leaflet about reading when the child starts school. A communication book is sent home with the child on a regular basis to record reading progress at home and school.

When reading with your child at home 5 good minutes is worth more than a stressful half hour. Find a place to relax and make each session enjoyable. The more you read to and with your child the better. Praise your child’s attempts and don’t worry if they bring a book home that is too ’easy’ or they appear to have learnt the text ‘off by heart’, children enjoy reading familiar stories over and over again, as we all do. 

If you have any concerns about reading please speak to a teacher in school.

The school introduced the Read, Write Inc scheme in September 2016. Children following this scheme are given a fully decodable reading book as their home reader. They then move on to the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme until they become a free reader. This is linked to their reading ability once they reach KS2.

This scheme links phonics, reading, writing and handwriting together as a cohesive whole, sets very high expectations and should help all our children attain more highly in English.