Reading

"Reading is like breathing in, and writing is like breathing out."

Pam Ally

At Bishop's Hull Primary School, we believe that reading is an essential life skill. We do our best to ensure pupils are given opportunities to develop their reading skills so that they will become life-long readers who read confidently and fluently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. We understand how a strong grounding in reading will impact the future learning and development of a pupil in all subjects and prepare them for life in modern society.

Early reading is taught in our EYFS and Year 1 classes through phonics. At Bishop's Hull, we follow the phonics scheme Little Wandle.  Children take part in daily phonics lessons, then read books matched to their phonics learning stage. We make sure that children read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that early on they experience success and gain confidence as readers. Pupils are also given opportunities to apply their phonic learning independently throughout the day.

As well as their phonetically matched reading book, children select a book from their classroom reading area to share and enjoy with a grown-up. We depend on parents to support children with their home reading and make daily reading with their child feel like a treat. The more enjoyable the experience, the more children want to read.

As children move through Year 2 and are confidently decoding words, reading sessions focus more on key reading skills. Each child is given a reading book that is levelled at their own reading ability. At Bishop's Hull we follow a colour banded book bands and children are encouraged to enjoy both fiction and non-fiction books. We encourage children to read for pleasure and to enjoy what they are reading and books are selected carefully to help children select books they enjoy. 

In every class, the children enjoy whole class reading sessions where all pupils share the same book and have access to a copy of the book for them to enjoy with a partner. Pupils are introduced to reading at length a wide range of authors and different genres, we ensure that each year group has the opportunity to read fiction, non-fiction and poetry throughout the year. There is an increasing focus on the young reader's ability to interpret what is happening in the text through discussion and  follow-on tasks. Pupils develop the ability to express their opinions and find evidence for their viewpoint in the text. Comprehension skills are taught using a system called VIPERS. This is a series of question types that focus on different aspects of comprehension.

Reading for pleasure is seen as an essential part of learning to read. Adults regularly read a variety of carefully selected books to their classes in order to inspire and promote a love of reading through texts that are connected to a set topic or books that engage the reader's imagination through class stories at the end of a day.

Inviting and engaging book areas can be found in every classroom. Children are free to select from from a range of books and teachers are on hand to offer recommendations. As well as classroom book areas, children can access our library which is made up of fiction, poetry and non-fiction books. 

When we have the benefit of the better weather we have our Book Nook open which allows children to enjoy a range of books outside. We also have a range of dressing up clothes for the children to wear and play with to spark their imaginations!