If children are to become lifelong readers, it is essential that they are encouraged to enjoy stories. This is why, as soon as children join us in our Nursery or Reception classes, they will start to bring home a Storytime Book. This is a quality text from our school library or class book corner which the children can choose for themselves to share and enjoy at home with their family. 

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read these other books by themselves. Please read it to, or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story,  predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, discuss the words to extend their vocabulary, explore the facts in a non fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun and enjoy the book together!

As soon as children join our Reception classes, they start their formal phonics sessions. When children are learning to read, it is  really important that they are able to practise reading with fully decodable books which are precisely matched to their phonic knowledge. This will  enable them to use the letters and phonic sounds that they already know and, with practice, read easily and fluently. 

This stage of reading is supported by our range of Phonic Readers. As a school we follow the Read, Write Inc. phonics program and our Phonic Readers are organised so that the sounds in the book match the sounds that are being taught in school.  Our staff will teach children sounds and how to use them to decode and read words during their phonics lessons. Children will also practise reading individually or in a small group with a member of staff during the week. 

Our Phonic Readers range from the simplest of texts (called Ditties) which usually have no more than 10 pages with a few short words on a page to longer books with around 10 sentences per page for children who are able to recognise a large number of sounds and words and can read at quite a fast pace, taking note of punctuation.

Reading practice at home: 
We value the contribution that parents make when it comes to reading and know the impact you can have. All children  on the Phonic Readers stage will bring home their reading practice book each week. Please be aware that some of the Read Write Inc books are labelled ‘Book Bag Books’ on the front cover. However, they are still part of our Phonic Readers stage. The book your child brings home will: 

• be a book that they have already read at school with a member of staff, 
• be at the correct phonic stage for your child, 
• contain phonemes that your child already knows so they can practise blending to read words, 
• contain only words which the child can sound out and blend (phonetically decodable). 

This may mean that the book your child brings home seems too easy, but it is important to know that your role in helping your  child to practise reading at home is to build confidence and fluency. You need to listen with interest and, most importantly, to encourage and praise, enthusiastically acknowledging the child’s achievement (even if, at the early stages, this is only small).  If your child gets stuck on a word, read it to them. Do not ask them to look at the pictures for clues or use the words around it to  guess what it might be. After the child has read the book, it would be helpful to talk about the book. This should be a celebration  of their success as a reader.  As children move through the different stages of the Read, Write Inc program, their books will change accordingly. 

Included in all the Phonic Reader books are helpful notes for parents. These are found on either the inside front or rear cover of each book and highlight the phonemes and words featured in the book as well as giving you ideas for questions to ask your child before and during reading to support their reading. 

Children will have their Phonic Reader book at home for a full week. It is good practice to read it on at least 3 different  occasions to practise 3 different reading skills. 

• The first time they read the book, children should focus on blending to read the words (decoding). 
• The second time they read the book, children should read with expression and improved fluency (prosody).
• The third reading can have a comprehension focus such as sequencing events, explaining what words mean or  making inferences based on the clues in the text. 

 
Learning to read takes lots of practice and while children are learning this skill, we don’t want them to miss out on wonderful books which may be too hard for them to read by themselves. For this reason, children who are Phonic Readers will also choose a Storytime Book every week. We ask that you read this book with your child once or twice a week at home. 

Remember that the  Storytime Book will most often be a book that your child cannot read by themselves, so please read it to or with them. When you are sharing the Storytime Book with your child you may like to: 

• Flick through the pages looking at the pictures and predict with your child what the story may be about. 
• Point out interesting or new words and explain what they mean, this helps expand your child’s vocabulary. 
• Ask your child’s opinion on the story. Are they enjoying it? Why, or why aren’t they?
• After reading the book together, use some of the questions below to help your child increase their understanding of story structures: 
• What was the story about?
• Why did that happen? 
• What was that character feeling? 
• Can you think of anything you have done that is the same as the events/characters in the book? 

Once children have completed the Read Write Inc phonic program, they will have become more confident and accurate readers with a good understanding of our complex phonetic code and how to manipulate it.  They are then now ready to move onto the next step of their reading journey and start the Reading Challenge.  

From September 2024, we are introducing this new step into our Reading Journey.  This step is based on the well established ‘Book Bands’ system. This is a system of coloured stages which levels books from the very easiest texts to complex fiction suitable for confident, mature, young adult readers.  

The Phonic Readers that we use are already aligned to this system and by introducing the Reading Challenge for children who have completed the Read Write Inc program we can: 

• Ensure that children who have moved away from Phonic Readers still have access to a book which is matched to their current reading ability in terms of both their decoding and comprehension abilities. 
• Ensure systematic and appropriate progression in reading across the school, which can be easily assessed and tracked.
• Ensure that concepts within the texts are matched to the children’s maturity.
• Provide confident, advanced readers with books that will challenge their vocabulary and analytical skills, as well as continue to foster a love of reading. 
• Increase the level of engagement of the children with the books they are reading. 
• Make sure that there are high interest books, matched to their chronological age for older children who may be struggling with reading. Where appropriate, these will be directly matched to their phonic knowledge. 
• Improve and instil a passion for reading.

Reading for pleasure is of the utmost importance. The updated reading scheme has allowed us to select a variety of different books, from a range of topics and genres that are designed to hook in to the interests of the children.

How does the Reading Challenge work? 
Over the summer, we have been carefully updating the books in our library and investing in a range of new and exciting reading books. The books in the  Reading Challenge are all ‘real’ books and include a variety of story types by well known and respected authors.  Children will be assigned a colour level according to their most recent reading assessment. They can then choose any book to read from within this colour level. Children are expected then to read from this book for their homework and for some of the quiet reading time in class.

Understanding the different levels:
The chart shows the different colour Book Bands for an ‘average’ group of children in each year group. However, children are individuals who learn and make progress at different rates so the chart is only a guide. As well as periods of rapid progress, your child will probably have periods of consolidation when progress is not as obvious. 

Although your child may be of a certain chronological age, they may be reading a Reading Challenge book from a colour that is before or after their age group as it is matched to both their current level of decoding and comprehension. The government has made it extremely clear that if children are still working on a phonics scheme, then whatever their year group, the book given by the school must match their exact and current phonetic knowledge. This means that for some children, they will continue to receive Phonic Readers from their teachers into KS2 and will only begin the Reading Challenge when they have completed the phonics program. 

All children need to develop their comprehension skills alongside their ability to read words on the page so you may find that your child is able to read the words fluently but continues on the same Book Band colour for a while to enable them to focus on developing their understanding. Class teachers assess the children’s reading on a regular basis and will change their Book Band colour only when they are confident that both the comprehension and word reading targets have been fully met. Please discourage your child from seeing the Book Bands as a race through the colours but help them to understand that each band will offer a range of books, which will help them in developing different reading skills.

You can download a guide with some really useful information on how you can support your child’s reading at each of the different colour levels from the bottom of this page.
 

Group Reading 

The skill of reading is more than just decoding the words on the page, children need to learn how to read with fluency, confidence  and understanding. Children in the EYFS & KS1 work with an adult as small groups, pairs or individuals to develop these skills as part of their phonics sessions. Children use books from their current reading level and as they read together,  the adult both models new skills and supports the children in showing what they can do through supportive questioning. In KS1 we use RWI Comprehension to bridge the gap between group reading and the whole-class guided reading we use at KS2.

Whole-Class Guided Reading 

In KS2, we take a whole-class approach to teaching Reading. We follow Complete comprehension for our guided reading activities, which are matched closely to pupils’ reading abilities.  This scheme is started when the pupils have moved on from learning daily phonics through Read Write Inc. 

 Over the course of each academic year, children will discover and  explore a variety of high quality extracts from well known texts such as ‘’The Boy at the back of the class’’ and ‘’The Nowhere Emporium.’’ Classes will also explore extracts from less well known texts, giving them the chance to discover new and exciting authors they may not have come across before. These are high-quality, age-appropriate texts that are accessible for the entire class— with each child sharing a copy with their partner. Each text will be taught daily (20 minute sessions) for a term (10-12 weeks).  Through these texts, teachers will cover a range of comprehension skills and question types. In any given week, children will read aloud and independently, take part in discussions and answer a range of questions. We also use several Read and Respond units  of  work to inform our teaching of these Guided Reading lessons. Separately, often as part of English lessons, children are also exposed to a wider range of genres and text types, such as: non-fiction, poetry, myths and legends, playscripts and graphic novels.

Sometimes, children find acquiring the skills needed in reading a little more challenging. Our strategy for these children aims to  support them in ‘keeping up’ and then, where needed, to ‘catch up’. We utilise our staff for additional 1:1 or group reading  sessions and have a range of supplemental programmes which help to develop children’s reading abilities as well as a dedicated Phonics & Reading tutor as part of our staff team.

Reading aloud is an important shared experience and gives children access to a wider range of texts. Hearing a text read  aloud often draws out elements for children that go unnoticed when they read ‘inside their heads’ or to an adult. Reading  to the whole class allows teachers to select books which broaden children’s reading experiences and exposes them to a  wider range of language and vocabulary in a supportive context. 

Every class in the school has a ‘Story Time’ session every day for around 15-20 minutes where an adult reads aloud to  the children. 

Each year group in EYFS & KS1 has a set of books which  have been selected by staff to engage children, stir ideas and feelings and excite the reader’s interest and  imagination. They are books that children will want to re-read, to savour and will remember. These stories are read,  enjoyed and re-visited during daily story time each half term so that children become familiar with their structure  and vocabulary. 

In KS2, each teacher chooses a ‘Class Reader’ which lasts roughly a half-term, depending on the length of book. This  is an age-appropriate book which is either chosen solely by the class teacher, or collectively with the class. These  texts are chosen for a range of reasons, including: links to the class’ topic, being a teacher favourite, a classic,  another book by an author already enjoyed or sometimes even a new highly-commended publication. 

Through our school libraries and classroom book corners/ areas, every child at Send CofE has access to a wide variety  of texts. Our main, mediaeval themed, library is a place where  teachers share stories with their classes, choose books to read for pleasure and to refresh the class selection and where new exciting texts are displayed. The library is split into sections appropriate for KS1 and KS2, as well as non-fiction and we regularly audit  our Library stock to ensure that the books available for children to select are of a high quality.  Each class also takes part in ‘Library Time’ once a week, this is an opportunity for the children to visit the main library to  discuss their favourite books at the time, to recommend books to others and select books for themselves or their class book corner. 

Every classroom also has a dedicated book corner/area where carefully selected texts are provided. Class book corners also include books chosen by staff which change over the course of the year to match the children’s interests and current learning.

In our KS2 building we have a separate library area for our Reading Challenge books. Children can access this area throughout the school day to browse the selection of texts for their level or to enjoy some quiet reading time in one of our comfy bean bags. 

We believe in the power of reading and the impact that reading has on children’s overall achievement. We want every child to enjoy reading and to feel part of a reading community by having access to good quality books. Book ownership has been directly linked with improved mental health amongst children and a greater desire to read for pleasure, however more than 1 in 12 children in the UK do not have a single book of their own at home, with as many as 1 in 5 pupils aged 5 to 8 not having a book of their own at home (National Literacy Trust: Picton & Clark, 2023).

On their birthday each year, every child in our school will receive the gift of a brand new, quality picture or story book  to keep at home forever. Our Birthday Books are well loved, classic titles chosen by our staff which we hope children will treasure for years to come.