READING

'Learning God's Way'

At St Mary's reading is at the heart of all we do. In KS1 the children learn to read using the Read, Write Inc phonics program and in KS2 we have dedicated Reading for Meaning sessions and use high quality texts in English to develop our love of reading and understanding of texts. Please visit our Phonics area to learn more about Read, Write Inc. (Link Below) and our English Policy sets out how we teach Reading in school. 

Link to our Phonics’ Page

Reading schemes we use

KS1 and EYFS

Children are given a home reading book matched to their ability and this is changed three times a week. Communication on progress at home and in school can be recorded in their Reading Record.  *The books that we use match the sounds children have learned at school and although we follow the Oxford Reading Tree book band system (expectations can be seen in the diagram below) we mainly use RWI book bag books in Reception and lower KS1. All children enjoy reading together with an adult throughout the week with our lower attainers being read with at least four times per week to ensure they reach age expected expectations. 

*Oxford reading tree book band level guide

KS2

Individual reading: We use the Oxford reading tree/Rigby books in KS2 with children progressing through the books and changing them under the instruction of the class teacher. They have a class reading book that is taken from this scheme that they use to read to an adult in school but they are free to bring in a free reading book that they can use when reading for pleasure. Please see a copy of the expected levels for KS2 readers below:

Parents' Support

Please find a link to the Reading Viper Questions below. These are really helpful and will support you when reading with your children.

World Book Day

In the spring term, St Mary's took part in World Book Day. We had great fun dressing up as our favourite book character. Every class enjoyed listening to a rhyming story or a poem and the children created wonderful poems based on their class poem/story. We shared these in a celebration assembly at the end of the day.