Our approach to reading centres on developing pupils’ competence in word recognition and comprehension. We ensure children leave Bonneygrove as fluent and accurate readers, who explore texts widely and often, for both pleasure and information.

At the start of our children’s journey, we promote a love of books while using a structured phonics programme, Little Wandle, which is taught daily. One-to-one reading in school is crucial to the support of the early development of skills and we value the supportive role of our parents when reading at home.

In school, children are provided with regular opportunities to read independently and within a group, to a skilled adult, thus developing fluency and comprehension skills. We understand the importance of ‘sticky learning’ and so our Guided Reading sessions are carefully linked to our daily phonics, resulting in learning being consolidated at every opportunity.

In Key Stage Two, children are provided a greater opportunity to appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage. At this stage, we consolidate phonics understanding and introduce our whole class teaching approach which enables children to thoroughly explore a variety of texts and higher-level vocabulary. By using speaking frames, children have daily opportunities to engage in high-quality discussion and therefore develop their oracy and ability to express themselves fluently using appropriate grammatical structures.

As well as guided and independent reading, we also ensure children are exposed to different texts through visits to our refurbished library and through reading in discrete writing sessions. Regular opportunities to read across our entire Horizons Curriculum are also carefully planned. Additionally, pupils listen to a variety of literature read to them by their class teacher daily, in a calm and peaceful environment, allowing them once again to stimulate their imagination and expand their understanding of the world. Similarly, the introduction of Bug Club allows children to be assigned an appropriate reading book for each child’s reading ability.

Reading is something we take seriously here at Bonneygrove.

To quote Dr. Seuss:

The more that you read,

The more things you will know.

The more that you learn,

The more places you’ll go.