Reading

Intent

At St Andrew’s, we believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them; a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share cultural experiences and develop vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our reading curriculum strives to foster a lifelong love of reading.

It is important that children are motivated to read at home regularly; when their reading opportunities increase, so does their reading fluency and stamina which in turn increases their enjoyment of reading.

Implementation

Learning to read is one of the most important things a child will ever learn. It underpins everything else, so we believe in putting as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. We also want our children to develop a real love of reading and want to read for themselves. We use Accelerating Reading to ensure the children are reading the correct level of books for their ability, but regularly encourage them to choose a book that would enjoy reading themselves or to have an adult read to them. Teachers regularly read with the children so the children get to know and love all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. This helps to extend children’s vocabulary and comprehension, as well as supporting their writing. All classrooms have attractive book corners where the children can access a wide range of books, both fiction and non-fiction. In addition, teachers read aloud daily to the children using high quality texts