Reading is implemented everywhere in our school. This is a skill we use every day across all subjects. We believe unless children can read, they cannot learn to the full.
Reading is taught through a systematic programme of phonics. Children in Nursery are made aware of sounds around them and the focus is on aural awareness and development. As children progress into Reception class, this basis is built upon via daily phonics sessions and opportunities to practice what they have learnt outside of these sessions. Pupils begin with picture-only books and are encouraged to talk about what they can see, before moving on to phonetically decodable books.
Commonly used words (‘High frequency’ words) are taught as part of phonics sessions. The school follows the 'Read Write Inc' phonics programme which begins in Nursery and continues until children are confident and speedy readers, who decode accurately and read for meaning.
Knowledge of high frequency words, development of reading skills and reading for meaning are embedded through guided reading with the teaching staff, and further practised at home with additional reading books. This practice continues into Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 as appropriate. Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils read fortnightly on a one to one basis with their teacher and take a reading book home for consolidation.
Find out more at Read Write Inc.
Reading Comprehension is taught through reading skills lessons, in addition to being an integral part of all writing teaching. Pupils read a range of engaging fiction and non-fiction texts that are appropriate for their level of comprehension. Activities are planned to support understanding of the text and to develop pupils' skills in decoding, predicting, questioning, clarifying, imagining and summarising. Children are taught the content domains through VIPERS to make the skills they are learning accessible.
In 2019, 87% of Year 1 pupils passed the National Phonics Screen. Additional support is put in place for pupils who may need further consolidation of sounds taught. This occurs throughout KS1, beginning in Autumn term in Year 1 and will continue throughout and into KS2 if necessary.
In Key Stage 2, children take part in regular specific reading skills lessons three times a week which develops their comprehension and inference skills. They are encouraged to read widely for their own pleasure, enjoyment and information. These reading activities also help to support children as they learn to ‘read as writers’ and ‘write as readers’. Teachers read a ‘class novel’ with their classes daily to model and embed reading skills.
We have a 'Reading Ninja' challenge for all of our children at St. Charles' to encourage them to read a variety of books for their own pleasure.
Children are encouraged to read their home/school reading books but also reading books of their own interest with a ‘bonus book’ choice from our school library to promote a love and pleasure for reading. We believe that a joint approach between school and home is optimal for cultivating both skills and passion for reading, and encourage pupils to take books home to read with family members.
So, how can we inspire our children to get into reading for fun?
Encourage your child to read at home ~ find a comfortable spot and curl up with a book. Try and read your child's home/school reading book, bonus book or their own book for pleasure and write a brief comment in their Reading Record Book and sign the entry. Some children may wish to write their own entry about their thoughts on the book or characters they particularly like.
In every classroom you will see a 'Reading Ninja' display which shows the different ninja belts. Every child has their own ninja with which they can move up the ninja ranks as they earn the next level ninja belt every time they 'smash through reading' with another book. Children can count up their reading entries, move their ninja and receive a ninja stamp on their Reading Reward Chart.
Encourage your child to bring their reading record book and home/school reading book into class every day, this will allow us to listen to them read and share their book with them as often as possible. Try and aim for a minimum of five entries per week.
Who will take on our 'Reading Ninja Challenge'?
We love reading!
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by online service providers in order to (for example) make their websites or services work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner or service provider (in this case, eSchools) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website or service you are using (such as advertising, interactive content and analytics). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your computer both when it visits the website or service in question and also when it visits certain other websites or services.
We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “advertising” or “analytical” cookies. For example, the embedding of YouTube and Vimeo videos, as added by individual schools will require “advertising” cookies to be enabled in order to successfully play them. Schools that, for example, opt to track visitor data using Google Analytics will require “analytical” cookies to be enabled in order to do so. These third party cookies are used to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalise your experience while interacting with our Services and to otherwise improve the functionality of the Services we provide. We also enable schools to employ cookies and similar tracking technologies in connection with their use of our Services in order to allow them to track visitors to and interactions with, their school website.
eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. The cookies differ depending on the information. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
Our Services allows schools to embed code which may potentially contain cookies. Please note embedded content, if displayed on one our websites, has been added by the school and not by eSchools. The embedded content added by the school may require additional cookies or tracking technologies to be enabled in order to function.
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Be aware that cookie preferences are set on a per device basis; therefore you may need to set your preferences on each device you use.
Initial cookie pop-up banner: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our Websites by selecting your preference from this modal which appears upon visiting an eSchools website/login screen and dashboard. You can also change your cookie preferences by clicking on the link on the footer of any page. The banner will reappear annually (August 31st to coincide with the academic year) to confirm your settings.
Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Websites though your access to some functionality and areas of our Websites may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, by accessing the settings in your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
We may update this Cookie Statement from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Statement regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the bottom of this Cookie Statement indicates when it was last updated.
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at support@eschools.co.uk.