INTENT:

At Witherley Church of England Primary School, we aim for ALL our children to become confident, fluent readers as well as nourishing and developing their personal preferences to foster a real LIFELONG love of reading.

                     “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller

Our Reading Expectations

Our reading policy asks that you read with your child at least three times a week. Our expectations in school is that we complete four (30 minute) whole class guided reading lessons per week.

Your home reading + Our school reading = Your child reading EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK!

Why Do This?

By reading together every day, you stimulate and strengthen your child's language and literacy skills. It is that simple. By reading and talking with your child each day, you bond with them and model the love of reading, which will benefit them in school and throughout life.

A study has shown that reading for only 20 minutes a day exposes kids to a vast quantity of words (1.8 million in each school year, actually!). And this exposure makes children more likely to score in the higher end of standardised tests. 

Implementation

Guided Reading:

Guided Reading Sessions are planned by all teachers to teach a range of skills and techniques, in line with the National Curriculum objectives. Guided Reading is taught using 'rich vocabulary' texts, poetry, non-fiction, drama and the use of short films, which the children particularly enjoy. Children use these resources which enable them to comprehend the meaning of what they read or watched, subsequently, developing their understanding of the vocabulary used by authors.

Individual Reading:

Across the school, children are given various opportunities to read aloud. Early Years and Key Stage One listen to children in various ways, ensuring that the children are making their reading purposeful. Reading can be done by the child during writing lessons (where children read back their own writing and peers to help with spelling, grammar and punctuation), guided reading (where children read the text in an open and closed environment) and also in the wider curriculum. A child's home reading record is looked at to allow staff to ensure children are reading at home on a regular basis, in line with our 'three times a week minimum' policy. Reading books are matched to a child's current phonic learning so that they can apply sounds learnt and progress their reading. Children are encouraged to reread texts to develop both fluency and comprehension. In Key Stage Two, children have bookmarks that parents/carers have to sign on a weekly basis, in line with our 'three times a week minimum' policy. Children who have been identified as needing additional reading support are given additional home/school reading to help close any gaps.

Reading for Pleasure:

Teachers regularly read aloud to their classes and share their love of books. Time is put aside at the end of each day for the teacher to read their 'class book' to their class. Children also have 'reading for pleasure' time in their timetables.

What does Reading look like in our Classrooms?

In Navigators, the children can not wait to find out Mrs Banks' 'book recommendation of the week. Mrs Banks buys a book a week: reads it, reviews it and then recommends it! You can guarantee that the book will fly off the shelf on a Monday morning! 

So far this year, just a few of Mrs Banks' recommendations include:

Why Do Fish Fart? - Francesca Gould

Stitch Head - Guy Bass

The Day I Robbed a Bank - David O' Doherty

Marcus Rashford - You Are a Champion: How to Be the Best You Can Be

We really enjoy going to other classrooms and helping other children to progress with their reading. We love to read with the younger children and we also love to listen to them read. We also enjoy reading books that we used to read when we were younger and reading some of our all time favourites. 'Reading is memories'  Hollie (Y6)

What do the children have to say about reading in Navigators?

'I love reading in Navigators because Mrs Banks gives us a new book every week and that is really kind. She gives it out her own money. I have never wanted to read more in my whole life. Books are one of the best ways to learn.'

 Elsie (Y6)

'I didn't like reading but now I do as it has to be a book that I look up to. I'm reading Marcus Rashford and almost on page 70 and I'm so liking it because I love football and it is helping me with my skills.'

 Riley (Y5)

'I love reading because we do it as a class. I love it when we come in from lunch and read for ten minutes. A just chill and get all the pleasure. It just makes me happy and it's just lovely to do. I love going to the library and Mrs Banks does amazing book recommendations; they are brilliant. 

Zara (Y5) 

'I love reading in Navigators because it expands my imagination to the endless possibilities of my imagination.'

Alex (Y6)

Reading in Adventurers Class

This is what some of the Adventurers have to say about reading in our class...

"When I read it paints pictures in my head."  Walter, Year 3

"I love reading at school because there's so many books to read!"  Charlie, Year 3

"I love reading as a whole class and on my own." Darcey, Year 3

"I like reading because it makes me calm down.  When I read Tom Gates I can let my imagination go a bit wild sometimes."  Challis, Year 4

"I love reading because it helps me to learn new words and helps me to write better in Literacy."  Jude, Year 4

"I like learning new words and picking out ideas for when we do a Big Write."  Scarlett T, Year 4 

"I like that we have a class book, guided reading, a book corner and recommended reads!"  Lucas, Year 4

"Reading makes me happy!"  Hazel, Year 4

What do children have to say about reading in Pathfinders?

"I like reading in Pathfinders because there are some tricky books like the Christmasaurus and because I get chance to read some stories by myself and with my friends"

Eleanor (Year 2)

"I like listening to our class stories, they are always the best! I like looking at the picture books in the reading corner and reading them to my friends or the teddies"

Isla (Year 2)

"I like reading because Miss Jones has lots of monster books and I can make up my own stories to the pictures too"

Franklin (Year 2)

"Reading in our class is good because we always look at new stories and Miss Jones uses funny voices"

Cole (Year 1)

"When we read some books we can learn new things from them like the shark book and the dinosaur books"

Harrison (Year 1)

"I like reading because I can sound out new words and see new words. My favourite bit about reading is trying to guess what will happen next in stories"

Jasmine (Year 1)