At St James Church of England Academy we see reading as an integral part of the school curriculum that impacts on all learning. We value the importance of being a fluent reader and work hard to develop children’s reading skills. We want children to enjoy reading a wide range of different books and be able to talk confidently about books and authors.

 

We teach reading in every year group from Year 3 to Year 6. This can be in the form of one-to-one reading with an adult, shared reading, guided reading sessions and independent reading. For those children who need a little extra support in developing the skills for effective decoding, we teach synthetic phonics and use the Read Write Inc scheme to support this. We also use a range of other reading materials to broaden children’s understanding, interest and enjoyment of reading. In Key Stage 2, as their reading develops, children are encouraged to read from a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books. The teaching focus then shifts towards teaching children the skills of comprehension, following themes and making comparisons within and between texts.  In addition we regularly set aside a quiet time at the end of the academic day where an adult reads a shared book to the class.

 

We are fortunate to have a well-stocked library in our school; therefore all children are able to take books home to read with an adult. We reward additional reading at home with stamps in the children’s reading passports to indicate reading miles. When sufficient reading miles have been achieved the children receive a checkpoint certificate given in our celebration assembly. We encourage parents as partners in the development of reading skills, and encourage all parents to set aside quality time to regularly read with their children.