Reading
It is widely recognised that children who read are more articulate, more confident and better informed.
This is supported by research (PISA, Jim Rose Review) which suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children's educational success than most other factors; there has also been links made between the emotional development of primary children and deep engagement with great literature and storytelling.
Reading is an important way to gain knowledge and understanding across all areas of the curriculum. The children read at school every day, across all areas of the curriculum but time is limited in school for sustained periods of reading for pleasure.
Therefore, we need to work together to try and encourage and intrigue your child to read high quality texts and there needs to be a balance between the types of books we ask our children to read.
Children (and adults) are creatures of habit and will tend to choose books that are comfortable and known. Our joint task is to suggest, coach, nag and help our children to experience a greater exposure to a range of quality texts including those they will enjoy and lap up as well as those that will challenge them and extend their learning.
In addition to your child reading books, we also encourage you to read to them (no matter how old they are!) and to make time to talk about what has been read. Books provide a great forum for starting conversations and talking to children. It is important that children have the opportunity to talk about what they read so that they can explore and better understand the meaning and messages beyond the pages of the book.
To support this even further this year, all teachers will pledge to read a 'class reader' (a non fiction or narrative text which could be chosen by the teacher or voted for by the class. This protected,10 minute daily reading time will be on top of our daily writing and whole class reading lessons:
Most families tend to read fiction books but listening to and discussing information books and other non-fiction literature sets the foundations for children’s learning in other subjects.
Development in reading has a direct link to a child’s writing - by regularly listening to stories, poems and non-fiction that they cannot yet read for themselves, your child will begin to understand how written language can be structured in order. Reading and listening to books also helps your child to increase their vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and all this information can then be drawn on for their own writing.
Reading is not merely the decoding of words on a page, it is paramount that children understand what they have read and that they understand what is inferred and suggested from a text—especially those things that are not directly said. Even if a child is an able reader, it is important for parents and carers to create opportunities to read to them, question and talk with them about what they have read.
All children have a Reading Record Book. Please write about your child’s reading experiences at home as often as possible but at least five times a week. This could be a record of what has been read or a short comment related to the book.
Where children are able to do so, they can write their own comments in the communication book too. This will support class teachers in gathering evidence about your child’s reading and enable them to make more informed judgements about their achievement.
Exposing children to a range of historical and contemporary authors and poets
To support the national curriculum expectations of exposing children to a range of historical and contemporary authors and poets, an ‘Author or the Week’ collective worship assembly is held every week. This is an opportunity for teachers to share facts about well-known authors and poets and share their stories and poems, promoting a love of reading for our children. Class teachers will lead these assemblies on a rota basis. In addition to this, every year, children will learn, write and perform both free verse and structured poetry.
Book Bands
Reception and Year 1
At Hillcross, we use a book banding system which supports teachers to ensure children take home the right texts at the right time to enable them to practice the relevant skills required in order for them to make the best possible progress in reading. It is a way to organise books into a simple, progressive and useable system. This system can also help teachers to moderate their summative judgement of a child’s reading ability.
Children receive two texts each week. One of these will be a fully decodable story from our Phonics International program linked to the unit the child is working within. The second text will be a banded book. The majority of this book will be decodable but will also offer an element of challenge as well as the opportunity to discuss elements of the text.
Year 2 - Year 6
Each child with have a book at their reading age level (in addition to their choice of book taken from visiting the library weekly). Children will change this book at least once a week. Children are encouraged to take this book home and return to school each day so that adults can read with them (see Reading Record expectations above). Priority readers remain a focus for adults to read with children daily.
