Shine As A Reader
Let Your Light Shine As A Welshampton Reader
Learning to read is one of the most important things your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it. At Welshampton Church of England Primary School, reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Our aim is to teach children to become confident and competent readers. We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we are dedicated to ensuring children develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. Parents are a vital part of this process and are actively encouraged to be involved in their child’s reading journey throughout their time at school.
Research specifically shows that the benefits of reading are more likely to be felt when reading takes place through free choice. The outcomes of reading will occur more often and more strongly if reading is enjoyable in the first instance. This is why the 'for pleasure' element of reading for pleasure is so important.
Reading is not something that children should just do in school; it needs to be an everyday part of our lives, something we choose to do at all ages. At Welshampton CE Primary School we want to build a culture of reading for enjoyment that will develop a lifelong love of reading which could benefit children in so many ways. We recognise that reading for pleasure will encourage children to succeed both academically and socially.
Our staff are all passionate to make a difference and promote this love of reading. We aim to empower children to explore the multitude of worlds beyond their own world. So how do we do this? First of all we need to see this beyond performance league tables and transform the whole school ethos, so that EVERYONE loves reading. Here are some of the things we do:
1. Class reading time
Reading to the class remains a priority and we often start our days by allowing the children to choose a book to read during registration. Teachers will designate time in their timetable for guided reading sessions in their classes. They will work with a small number of children to analyse a text in detail, making sure each child can read each word and discussing meaning of the text with them.
Teachers try to make sure that this group guided reading session is available every day so that at the end of each week, each child has had some quality reading time with a teacher. Sometimes a teacher will recognise that certain children need extra reading support and may arrange for them to read with a teaching assistant or another more able reader in the class.
2. Involving our families
We aim to support parents with tips and techniques for helping children develop reading, comprehension skills and a love of reading.
We send reading books home which not only can be read to parents but books which parents can read to their children, so that stories can be enjoyed together. A comprehensive recommended book list can be found below.
Often, we invite parent volunteers into school to listen to children read.
3. World Book Day or other reading events:
Like other schools around the world we too celebrate World Book Day! It is however important to remember that it shouldn’t be just about the children dressing up in a superhero costume that they’ve bought from the supermarket. We ask the children to bring in a book from home, one that includes their favourite book character; or if the children don’t have books at home, we support them in school to select from books they have read here. Staff too are great fun and also dress up and role play throughout the day.
Such an event can give children a real reason for understanding characters, expressing preferences, talking about books they have enjoyed and hearing about books from their peers that they might not otherwise have chosen to read. And perhaps, most importantly, it enables them to see the power of a shared love of reading.
4. A reading environment
It may seem obvious, but the school environment can really make a big impact. All classrooms have clearly thought out reading corners and much emphasis has been placed on not only how they look, but how accessible, welcoming they are and stocked up with good quality, appropriate books. Sometimes less is best!
