How to improve your child’s reading
A parents’ guide
Why is it important for my child to learn to read?
At WIJPS, we place a very high importance on reading and recognise that pupils who read well have the skills to understand the world around them and are able to access all of their other lessons.
How will my child learn to read?
At WIJPS, we shape our curriculum so that it can accommodate a distinct focus on reading.
Our Phonics programme begins in Nursery and our Nursery pupils are also read to daily and expected to take home reading books. From Reception, phonics is taught daily in small ability groups enabling teachers to respond to the changing needs of our learners. At WIJPS, we use the Letters and Sounds scheme to ensure the progressive development of phonics skills so that pupils can decode effectively. Our pupils work through the phases of the programme through to the end of year one. Pupils in year one also begin the Read, Write Inc. scheme which is adapted as necessary to support our pupils in reading and comprehension and provides them with the foundations to grow. Read, Write Inc. is also adapted for some of our year two pupils who need more support to develop their understanding.
Pupils in year two take part in daily Guided Reading lessons, during which pupils are required to read and respond to age-appropriate texts through a variety of activities. Our teachers work with each group of pupils at least once a week to explicitly develop comprehension skills and encourage active participation.
In Key Stage Two, we teach a daily reading session using the Destination Reader scheme which we have adapted to suit the needs of our pupils. This is a consistent, structured approach to teaching reading in line with the demands of the National Curriculum. Destination Reader actively creates a love of reading and enables our pupils to develop key reading strategies which deepen their understanding of texts. These strategies include inference, prediction, questioning, clarifying, summarising, evaluating and making links. Immersion, questioning and discussion allow our pupils to explore and develop their understanding of the chosen text and therefore strengthen their comprehension and appreciation of language. The scheme develops our pupils’ motivation to read for pleasure and purpose and increases their ability to lead their own learning through key learning behaviours.
The daily lessons incorporate whole class modelling, including modelling of intonation and fluency, followed by the children applying the skills learnt through partner work and independent reading. We ensure that each group of children are supported by the class teacher once a week during these lessons. All classrooms in Key Stage Two have a reading wall which is used throughout the lessons and lessons are as interactive as possible with the pupils dominating the talk. Over the course of a term, our pupils are exposed to a range of non-fiction, fiction and poetry in Destination Reader lessons.
We develop a culture of reading at WIJPS and our teachers place a high value on books and reading. Every classroom has a welcoming and looked after book corner with a range of texts that can be accessed by everyone. At WIJPS, we ensure that there is a range of stimulating and attractive books in each classroom, as well as other reading material such as the First News. Many of our books, fiction and non-fiction, are colour-coded to indicate their level of difficulty ensuring that our pupils are reading a text appropriate for them. However, we do not deny pupils access to books which interest them but which may be too difficult for them to read independently. Our staff support pupils in accessing such books by using every opportunity to read to our pupils and encouraging the use of ‘paired reading’.
At WIJPS, we display and promote books across the school and we are extremely proud of our wonderful library which aims to enrich and broaden the literacy experience that pupils are offered. Our library offers a wide range of authors genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, traditional tales and stories from other cultures. We have passionate ‘Junior Librarians’ who are responsible for the running of our library and our pupils have regular opportunities to visit the school library. Our pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure at home and at school. We believe that it is vital to develop strong links between home and school reading in order that our pupils become life-long readers. Our staff support this by ensuring that appropriate texts are sent home regularly and our pupils have regular opportunities to read 1:1 with class teachers and other staff members. Parents are encouraged to read with their children at home as much as they are able.
Reading is celebrated throughout the school at WIJPS. We have displays and newsletters celebrating the staff’s favourite books and recommended books to read in each year group. In addition, the importance of reading is enhanced through World Book Day, National Poetry Day and our annual School Book Fair. Our staff and pupils take part in our annual ‘Extreme Reading Challenge’ and our parents, staff and pupils have all taken an active part in providing books for our ongoing ‘Book Swap’.