Reading

Reading at East Farleigh

This year has seen a huge transformation in our reading curriculum, as we strive to develop a reading community of passionate, capable readers. Stay tuned for regular updates from Mrs Dyer about how we are improving reading in our school.

INTENT

We aim to develop passionate and capable, life-long readers through an engaging and carefully planned reading curriculum. Our goal is to ensure all children become readers from an early age, developing the ability to accurately decode a range of texts and demonstrate depth of understanding of what they have read. Our approach to phonics teaching, as detailed in the school policy, aims to give children the tools they need to become confident early readers and to equip them with skills to decode a range of texts. We understand the importance of reading in acquiring knowledge but also in developing socially and emotionally. We place a high emphasis on developing reading for pleasure and endeavour to foster a love of reading across our wider curriculum.

When children leave our school, it is our intention that they will:

• Be fluent, confident and independent readers
• Demonstrate a secure understanding of the texts they read
• Read a range of texts types to acquire knowledge and for enjoyment
• Be able to participate in discussions about text (for example commenting on the author’s choices or developing empathy towards characters in books)
• Be able to recommend books to peers

Our intent to develop proficient readers, as outlined above, is supported by our reading scheme ‘Collins Big Cat.' This is a whole-school reading programme that supports children to learn to read and to love reading. The Big Cat scheme supports a journey from phonics to fluency, with levelled readers that systematically increase the level of challenge, vocabulary, and stamina as children work up through the bands. Children are provided with a wide-range of reading experiences. These books are carefully created to facilitate success so that children enjoy and make progress in reading.

For more information about our approach to the teaching and learning of reading, please see our school reading policy.