Reading

Intro to Reading (taken from dfe ‘The reading framework’ July 2021)

Reading is fundamental to education.  Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. Through these, they develop communication skills for education and for working with others: in school, in training and at work.

Pupils who find it difficult to learn to read are likely to struggle across the curriculum, since English is both a subject in its own right and the  medium for teaching. This is why the government is committed to continuing to raise standards of literacy for all.

At St George's CE Primary school we aim to develop a love of reading and encourage every child to read with a grown up at home every night. Children who read with their families grow in confidence much more quickly and develop a love of reading that can last a lifetime. This is one of the most powerful ways of enabling children to progress in all areas of their learning.

At St George's we believe this is important as reading enables a child to develop their text comprehension and grammar, as well as expose them to a breadth of vocabulary. Furthermore, we believe that developing positive reading attitudes is essential as enjoyment in reading is linked to achievement in reading, greater self-confidence as a reader and pleasure in reading in later life.

We promote reading for pleasure by ensuring that class book corners are appealing and inviting. 

How do we promote reading?

Reading at home and Reading Records 

• All children take home a book from school every evening - for children in the early stages of reading, this will be fully decodable book in line with their phonics ability. 
• They may also take home a book to develop reading for pleasure
• We ask that all children read at home at least 4 times a week
• Children will be asked to read the same book at least 3 times following our policy of 'a book in three':Guidance on Reading and Phonics at Home
• The reading record should be signed and dated by a responsible adult every time the children read at home
• Reading sessions at home should last at least 20 minutes for children in Poppy and Daisy Class, and 30 minutes for children in Lavender and Sunflower
• Reading books and reading records should be sent into school every day so that staff can add comments if they hear the children read independently during the school day

Reading Raffle 

• Children will receive a raffle ticket every time there are 10 signatures in the reading record
• One ticket will be drawn in each class at the end of every half term
• The winner will receive a reading hamper of age appropriate books

Top Ten Reads

• Each year group will have a selection of 10 books in the classroom which have specially chosen to promote reading for pleasure, equality and high level vocabulary - there may be one copy of each title
• Children are encouraged to read as many of these 10 books throughout the year and record which they have read in the reading record
• These books may be taken home and shared with an adult or read independently

Whole Class Reading

 All children have the opportunity to read to an adult in school and to be taught strategies to improve fluency and the understanding of inference and deduction in texts.  

Children in Reception and KS1 who are on the RWI pathway, will practice reading as part of their RWI hour. There will be no separate Whole Class Reading session.

In Key Stage Two teachers choose extracts from the scheme 'Complete Comprehension'.  During each year group Y3 - Y6 children are taught all the reading objectives with the use of these texts and the extra support given during a pre-read, main read and post read.