How We Teach Reading

At Isleham C of E Primary School we aim to immerse children in a rich reading environment and give them the opportunity to explore a wide range of quality texts. This supports word recognition, comprehension and vocabulary development.             

In Reception classes, Year 1 and Year 2, reading is taught through Little Wandle Phonics. You can read more about the teaching of phonics in the 'How we teach phonics' section of our website.

As part of our Little Wandle Phonics programme, children in Reception through to Year 2 take part in guided reading sessions. These take place 3x a week and build on the work done in the daily phonics sessions.

In addition, Dialogic Literary discussion sessions have been established for older pupils providing an opportunity to read, share and discuss universal classics as a whole class. These sessions provide an opportunity for our pupils to develop comprehension and vocabulary as well as improving public speaking and acquiring a broader, richer vision of the world.

  'Reading For Pleasure'

At Isleham C of E Primary School we believe that reading should be a fundamental part of childhood and a skill which should be developed to support lifelong learning.

Our aim is to develop and embed a strong, sustainable reading culture within the school community. Confident and competent readers will foster a love of reading through a rich and varied experience of texts, in which they are empowered to exercise freedoms of choice and independence.

Inspiring children to read is a moral imperative and their fundamental right. It underpins all learning and secures a good trajectory for personal development, understanding the world in which they live.

We believe that a reading child is a successful child and that:

  • children deserve a rich curriculum which encourages extensive reading of books and other kinds of texts;
  • planning enables links across learning, which create a wide range of opportunities in which children can read for pleasure;
  • children will have the opportunity to experience whole books to support them in their understanding of literary structures and allow them to become absorbed in the story itself;
  • the active encouragement of reading for pleasure should be a core part of every child’s educational entitlement, whatever their background or attainment. Extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts make a huge contribution to students’ educational achievement;
  • children will be encouraged to read texts which reflect their own heritage and that of other cultural groups. Children should be allowed to explore and engage with texts in their native language;
  • all children should have access to a wide range of texts in different formats and genres and support in enjoying them where necessary;
  • the school will engage and support parents in enabling access to a full range of reading experiences. Where this is not possible, action will be taken to provide compensatory measures which allow equality of access to all children;
  • home-school relationships will promote the importance of all adults in fostering a love of reading
  • school reading should not only be seen as synonymous with attainment and judgement as this could influence children’s perceptions of books and reading.

The school has a commitment to evaluate the outcomes of this Reading for Pleasure statement and continually review practice to ensure all children become lifelong readers.