Early reading

In EYFS, reading is an important feature inside and outside the classroom. We have a range of ways in which we promote reading:

• Having enthusiastic staff who share their passion and excitement of books with children
• Book corners that are stimulating as well as being accessible and loved by children, indoors and outdoors.
• Using core books to plan for children’s interests and class topics.
• Quality texts, such as those from Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine, Page Turners and Poetry Spine are used as class reads.
• Children have the opportunity to read to an adult using fully decodable reading books once a week. Children can choose new books once a week, as well as taking a choice book home (Enrichment Texts).
• Children that are identified as needing extra support have daily 'keep up' sessions with teaching assistants or other adults working in the class.
• A dialogue of communication with parents and carers is created with the class teacher in reading records to identify children’s next steps and track their progress.
• Children are given specific feedback to acquire reading skills.
• Having a range of quality books available in all areas of the classroom.
• Having opportunities for independent writing in all areas of the classroom.
• Using story props, role-play areas and displays to enhance core books.
• Having well planned, shared reading sessions that all practitioners are confident to take part in.
• Opportunities for children to learn from clearly modelled ‘reading behaviours’, for example, the recognition that print conveys meaning, the left to right directionality of English text, the purpose of punctuation and so on.
• Involving parents in understanding the importance of early literacy though parents’ workshops, newsletters, home shared reading and reading books.
• Listening to and joining in a variety of genres, for example, non-fiction, poems, audio stories, rhymes.
• Opportunities to retell and to act out stories using props and story maps.
• Weekly visit to the school library.

We work in partnership with parents, so pupils develop a love for books and reading. Daily reading at home and at school ensures children make good progress in developing reading skills, whatever their age.

Children in EYFS and Year 1 have the opportunity to read with an adult in school three times a week in group Guided Reading sessions to develop their reading strategies and comprehension. Reading evidence is kept in a Reading Journal from Year 1 upwards. The majority of the Guided Reading session should focus on one specific area:

• Vocabulary (talk about the meanings of words)
• Retrieval (find simple information)
• Summarise (talk about the order of a text)
• Infer (make simple inferences)
• Predict (make simple predictions about a book)

Welford on Avon uses fully decodable books and Enrichment Texts to ensure books are the right level of challenge for children, so they make good progress. Children are given new books to read at home once a week.  In addition, pupils take home a word box, which contains the tricky words from the Phonics Phase they are currently working in and the appropriate graphemes to practice at home.

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