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Reading at Grangehurst

At Grangehurst Primary School, we value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers. We believe reading is key for success across the primary curriculum and aim to reflect this in a vocabulary rich curriculum, in which high quality texts are mapped into all subject areas.

Through the teaching of systematic phonics, our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school.

Reading is a priority at our school and as such, we introduced the whole class reading approach from Year 2 to Year 6, with the aim of promoting meaningful discussion during lessons, providing children with daily exposure to modelled reading and placing a focus on the learning of new vocabulary.

We strongly believe that reading should be an enjoyable and enriching activity that reaches far beyond the discrete teaching of reading skills. We prioritise reading for pleasure in our timetable and work hard to develop home reading links, where parents play an active role in their child’s reading journey.

Our timetable is mapped in a way that celebrates and raises the profile of reading, books and authors: we hold reading focused assemblies, have reading together sessions for parents and carers in EYFS and KS1, reading ambassadors, volunteer readers and a daily dedicated ‘story time’ in each class.

We aim to cultivate readers with a passion for a wide range of genres to ensure that their love of reading extends beyond the classroom and evokes a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity for life.

National Literacy Trust and BUPA

Through the National Literacy Trust and BUPA, we have been selected as a partner school to work with a local residential home. Funded through BUPA, 6 Primary schools in the UK were selected to strengthen our children's world of understanding and of each other, through reading. The programme promotes children's reading for pleasure and builds their reading identity through events in school and at a selected residential home. The residents take part in storytelling workshops with the children and share books, which are then kept in the 'twinned' library on both sites.  We are thrilled to be involved in such a unique and impactful programme, that allows our children to communicate and explore storytelling through the generations, connecting with those within our community.

Grangehurst Reading Buddies

Reading buddies is a programme in our school in which KS2 pupils are paired with EYFS and KS1 pupils to read together. All of our reading buddies receive training that includes reading coaching skills and strategies.

Yr 2 Child ‘I really like it when my reading buddy helps me out with my reading. I am also really enjoying my book.’

Yr 2 Child ‘I like it when I learn new words and my partner helps me with the meaning so I understand.’

Yr 6 Child ‘It’s really nice to help the younger children with their reading and teach them something new.’

Yr 6 Child ‘It makes you proud when the children learn a new word, I feel proud.’

Exposure to reading

Children at Grangehurst are exposed to a varied diet of Reading. Reading weaves its way through the curriculum, the classroom environment and the wider culture of the school.

Children are exposed to reading through:

  • ‘Book Club’ – 3 times weekly whole class lessons from Y2-6 and daily small group and 1:1 sessions in EYFS and Y1
  • Reading opportunities across the curriculum
  • Classroom book corners
  • Story time
  • Opportunities for independent reading
  • Reading at home
  • Special reading weeks
  • Reading buddies
  • Reading volunteers
  • Author / Poet visits and workshops

Reading for pleasure

As a school, we have an amazing school library, which showcases the very best non-fiction books. Children have the opportunity to choose a book from the library to enjoy at home, this is in addition to their reading book.

In Year 1 we have 'Love to Read' books, which go home each week with the children to support reading for pleasure at home. These are high quality picture books that the children can enjoy at home. This goes alongside their Monster Phonics reading book.

By the end of KS1 children should be able to:

  • decode a range of unfamiliar words using the sounds that have been taught
  • segment and blend longer words
  • read fluently with intonation and expression
  • be exposed to a wide range of texts which they can talk about
  • discuss the types of books that they enjoy

By the end of KS2 children should be able to:

  • draw on their previous reading to discuss their reading preferences
  • understand what they have read and offer opinions and justifications
  •  to identify and explain different genres
  • read a wider range of genre
  • apply strategies for understanding unfamiliar words
  • independently select books and reading materials.
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