Reading is promoted as an enjoyable activity and a life skill throughout Woodlands Primary School.

Our aims are to enable children to:

·         develop positive attitudes towards reading so that it is a pleasurable and meaningful activity;

·         use reading skills as an integral part of learning across the curriculum;

·         read and respond to a variety of texts whilst gaining increased level of fluency, accuracy, independence and understanding;

·         develop different strategies for approaching reading and be able to orchestrate the full range of strategies.

In order for children to access the rich range of literature available, the children are taught to read by:

·         listening to texts that are read to them on a regular basis in school. Parents are also encouraged to read to their children at home;

·         identifying letters and words in the environment;

·         learning to recognise digraphs both in isolation and in real and ‘psuedo’ words;

·         reading books with adults both at school and at home;

·         answering comprehension questions about a text they have listened to or read themselves;

·         identifying new vocabulary and using dictionaries to help them discover its meaning;

·         practising and extending reading across the curriculum.

Children have a wealth of reading opportunities in the course of the school day, in which to develop and extend their skills, confidence and interest, these include:

·         guided reading

·         regular independent reading

·         hearing books read aloud on a daily basis

·         selecting their own choice of texts

·         reading in other subjects across the curriculum

·         weekly reading with an adult  - often more frequently (KS1)

·         daily or regular reading with an adult, dependent on assessed need ( KS2)

Pupils select texts under the guidance of the teacher or Teaching Assistant, for independent and home/school reading. Teachers monitor independent reading and discuss progress with individual pupils on a regular basis. Where pupils are working below age appropriate objectives they will be identified for intervention programmes.

Reading is promoted as an enjoyable and enriching experience to both children and parents via a number of events planned over the school year. Please see the diary below. There is a weekly Book Swap on Oak's playground where children can swap books with a supply of engaging texts at no cost. Finally the school libraries and class libraries are regularly reviewed and re-stocked to ensure age appropriate and engaging texts are available for the children.