Reading

At Kilmersdon Primary School, we believe that the ability to read is integral to children’s learning throughout their education. Our aim is for each child to develop the understanding and skills needed for them to become independent, confident and enthusiastic readers. From their earliest days in school the Reception children are introduced to Read Write Inc Phonics, a synthetic phonics programme which is taught to children until they are ready for guided reading. Daily Read Write Inc sessions enable children to develop their reading skills and build a solid foundation for becoming lifelong readers. Read Write Inc develop fluency so that they can read with comprehension. By exposing children to a variety of fiction genres, non-fiction texts and poetry, children will have the opportunity to develop their ability to show an understanding of what they are reading, express their opinions regarding what they have read and gain a life-long love of reading.

Jack and Jill Reading Challenge

In addition to reading at school, it is important that children read and share their books with adults at home. Our Jack and Jill reading challenge encourages this by rewarding children regularly for reading to an adult, giving them the opportunity to become a Reading Buddy  and ultimately earn their Reading Ambassador badge.

EYFS

Children in EYFS are given a range of opportunities throughout the day to develop their reading skills. One of our key goals is promote a lifelong love of reading. Story times are a well-loved part of each day; children listen to and engage with a variety of stories and rhymes, non-fiction and poetry.  Story time provides opportunities for building vocabulary, comprehension, understanding story structure, prediction, language patterns and the use of expression. Children choose a storybook to take home each day to share at home. Books are available to be enjoyed and used as sources of information; we have a cosy reading nook at the back of the classroom and a reading garden outside. 

Kilmersdon Reading Spine

The books for our Reading Spine have been chosen to ensure that children have access to a wide variety of texts which allow them to not only learn to read but which also encourage and promote reading for pleasure. The categories are based on the key principles in Doug Lemov's 'Reading Reconsidered', where he highlights the five types of texts that children should have access to in order to read with confidence. 

Children will be encouraged to read books from the five different categories of the Reading Spine as they move through the school.  Children will be able to choose their reading books from the library and  classroom reading areas and will be supported to read a variety of books including non-fiction and poetry books. In Key Stage 2, children will have the opportunity to discuss and recommend the books that they have read with their peers.

The document below shows the books in our Reading Spine alongside recommended reads for each year group. These lists will be updated on a regular basis to ensure that they include recommendations from adults and children.

Whole Class Reading

Every class has a class book, chosen by the teacher, which is read to them for 15-20 minutes every day. 

In Key Stage 2, the children  have 4 whole class reading sessions per week. 2 of these sessions are linked to the class book and allow the children to explore and discuss the book in more detail and build up their comprehension skills. The other 2 sessions are linked to other curriculum topics and allow the children to not only increase their comprehension skills but also to gain a greater understanding of topics being covered.

We are very excited to have the opportunity to be judges for The Federation of Children's Book Group's Children's Book Awards.

Every year, as part of the Somerset Children's Book Group, children will read and judge all the books involved in the awards next year. This involves all year groups and our Library Squad helps share books with the younger children.

This is a continuous process and gives the children access to a wide variety of the latest children's book releases and gives them the opportunity to discuss and rate the books that they have read.

Kilmersdon PTA have subscribed to Reading Rocks, a subscription service which means that the school receives new books every term. These books are carefully selected and the children absolutely love sharing the new books with each other.

Author visits

We were very lucky to have visits from 2 authors in March this year. Rob Lloyd Jones inspired the children with their fiction writing with a variety of workshops. He also officially opened our Reading Hut.

Andy Seed spoke to the children about life as an author and all the possibilities for writing non-fiction/factual books.