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 using the Read Write Inc. Phonics Programme. Children take part in daily phonics lessons, then read books matched to their phonics learning stage. We group children homogeneously, according to their progress in reading. 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 that they are 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.

When children have successfully learned to decode, they move on to our reading scheme which progresses children through coloured, levelled reading bands. Pupils read these books with adults in class and at home.

As children move through Year 2 and are confidently decoding words, reading sessions focus more on key reading skills.

From Year 2 to Year 6 whole class guided reading takes place. 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. Both fiction and non-fiction books and texts are a focus for study.

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.

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. Fiction books are arranged alphabetically by author surname and non-fiction books are divided into subject areas using the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

We have an outdoor Book Nook where the children can relax and read at lunchtimes.   Year 6 lead activities and offer assistance. For more information about the Book Nook click below.

Our annual BOOK WEEK provides another opportunity to promote and enjoy books.

Assessment

Bishop's Hull Primary School assesses children against age related expectations in reading. These expectations have been organised into bands which reflect the year group, for example Band 1 is the end of year expectation for children in

Year 1.