Reading at Friars
- The greatest possible emphasis is placed on reading. The ability to read with understanding and enjoyment is of prime importance. Children learn to read through experiencing a wide range of books and through direct teaching of synthetic phonics.
- The foundations of reading are started in the Early Years where we use an inclusive and carefully researched reading programme which focuses on the teaching of synthetic phonics (http://www.oup.com/oxed/primary/rwi/). Children learn to decode and read for meaning alongside practising letter formation and spelling.
- Children’s love and understanding of reading is developed through our use of the “Literary Curriculum” (https://literarycurriculum.co.uk/) at Key Stage 1 and 2. The Literary Curriculum is a complete, thematic approach to the teaching of primary English that places children’s literature at its core. From Year 2 upwards we use whole class reading session where the children are introduced to a variety of different authors.
- In addition to improve the pupils’ motivation to read and vocabulary and the ability to help teachers make immediate assessments of their ability and therefore provide a personalised approach to enable children’s reading skills to improve we use an online resource called Accelerated Reader (http://readforpleasure.co.uk/). It allows children to read books at their level and that offer sufficient challenge.
- All unit plans for other subjects contain reading opportunities that link so that children are reading widely across the curriculum.