We believe in igniting a love of reading and introducing a wide world of literature.
Early Reading:
At our schools, a love for reading including taught phonics starts at Nursery and follows a very specific sequence that allows our children to build on their previous phonic knowledge and master specific phonic strategies as they move through school. We use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to plan and provide daily engaging phonics lessons for our younger children. We initially teach children the single letter sounds, and how to blend them together. We then begin to look at ‘diagraphs’ and ‘trigraphs’- where two or three letters make a new sound when put together. It is our ultimate aim that EVERY child will leave ours schools as a confident reader, with a love for reading both for pleasure and to find new information.
We teach children to read a new story every week in school, which contains the sounds that they have been taught so far. This ensures that the children are able to read the book, and that they experience success when doing so. By the time your child brings home the story book that they have been learning to read in school, they should find it easy! This is something that you can celebrate and enjoy together.
Each term, reception parents/carers will receive a date in which they will be invited into school to watch a phonics lesson and gain information on how best to support your child at home with their reading.
Accelerated Reader:
Once children have finished the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds program they move on to Accelerated Reader. This is a reading program that helps teachers support and monitor children’s reading practice. Children select a book at their own level and read it at their own pace. When finished, the child takes a short online quiz to measure how much of the book they understood. Please see below a parent's guide to Accelerated Reader.
Reading for pleasure:
All our classes have an engaging reading area with a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books to encourage curiosity and enjoyment. In our Celebration Assembly, reading is celebrated and classes share information about their class read and books that have caught their imagination.
Through our approach to reading, we aim to provide our children with the experiences and scaffolding they need to be able to write inventively for themselves. They are equipped with the rich language and skills that they need to produce their own high standard of writing, for a wide range of purposes.
We want your child to love reading - and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.
Assessment:
Our children are assessed every half term to see what level of fluency their reading is at, and to see how many sounds they know and can apply to their reading. The children are then put into small reading groups based on this information, which allows us to tailor our teaching and support directly to their needs.
Supporting your child at home:
You can support your child through their Little Wandle Letters and Sounds journey by listening to them read every night at home even if it is just for 10minutes, and recording it in their reading record.
You will find 2 books in your child's bookbag:
A "reading practice" book: this will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.
A sharing book.: your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together