Promoting Reading

March 2021

Dear Parents,

During the Autumn term, we were restricted in some of our normal practice of sending Reading books home. This is something we are keen to address over the remainder of the year. Staff have been working hard this year to address any lost learning in reading, following on from the Covid lockdowns. Many of these will already have been addressed in school this year, however we aim to work with you to improve this further.

Reading has been, and continues to be, a key skill for any pupil. Although Reading has continued in school this year; we want to re-establish the links between home and school to support the children with their Reading. We understand the key role that you, as parents, have in helping with your child’s reading at home.

School has already invested heavily in an on-line resource ‘Reading Plus’ to support our pupils. All pupils in Years 4-6 have access to this personalised independent reading programme that supports and moves children through their reading development at their own pace. All texts are pitched accurately to their reading speed and ability of each pupil. All pupils in Year 4 – 6 have their own log-ins and have weekly set times in school when they access Reading Plus to support their reading. We are asking that pupils complete at least 1 to 2 weekly sessions at home to get the full benefit and impact from this programme. This is where we need your support to encourage the children to complete this as part of their weekly homework challenge.

We will also be sending graded reading books home for weekly reading. This is something that the pupils have missed and many parents also enjoy reading these books with their children. The pupils have all been listened to individually in school to establish their current reading level and will have a colour banded reading book that they will be bringing home to read. Some pupils will have access to the Governor Reading Challenge books which have additional questions that can be accessed in school or on the school website. All reading books can only be returned and changed on a Monday or Thursday to allow staff time to store returned books for 72 hours before returning them to the reading boxes.

All of the children’s reading will need to be recorded in the ‘new’ Reading Records (sent home with each child). Children will need to have these records in school every day so that staff can check the records and keep a record of those completed. If all of the sections have been completed each week by the pupil (Reading Book and Reading Plus) and parents have also completed a brief comment to show engagement or fluency at home, the pupils will be entered for a class prize draw at the end of each month.

We really value the impact that reading can make to any child’s development and as a school, we place great importance on working together with parents to support this.

Thank you in advance for supporting your child’s reading!

Mr Fowler