Reading at Stoke Park Infant School

We believe that reading is one of the most important skills that your child will learn at school and one of the greatest gifts any adult can give to a child is to read to them. We fundamentally believe that there is no substitute for books in the life of a child. Reading accompanies you on your life journey and is a constant companion, bringing knowledge, pleasure and escapism. We work in close partnership with families to develop the children's ability to read and the love of reading.

Reading is truly at the heart of everything at our school and that is why we make sure that the children at Stoke Park Infant School learn to read as quickly and as confidently as possible. We aim to instill a life long love of reading in all children.

How will my child learn to read at Stoke Park Infant School?

We begin the journey of learning to read as soon as the children start in YR. This is done with daily high quality phonics teaching following Pearsons Bug Club Scheme (Please see the phonics section of the website for more details). Lessons are fun and pacey and interactive and follow a clear progression of acquiring the phonological knowledge and skills to read. We teach children to segment (break up) and blend (put back together) sounds to read and write words. Alongside this phonic books are matched to the child's phonics level and allocated to your child to read at home by logging on to Bug Club. Teacher's allocate the book, inform you of the book title and sounds being taught via a sticker in the child's reading diary.

Alongside this tricky words/Common Exception words such as I, me, be, he, we etc are taught to be recognised quickly and not to be decoded. This is done through daily practise in class and tricky word lists in the back of your child's reading diary. In YR at 10.30a.m. three times a week, all teaching assistants in the school go to YR and take part in guided reading sessions with the children in small groups, with the book that they will then be allocated to read at home. We also have daily DEAR sessions - Drop everything and read where an adult reads a range of stories, poems and rhymes to the class. We also ensure that there are many opportunities for the children to discover phonics and reading in their continuous and enhanced provision whilst they are playing. 

In YR all children are heard to read for a minimum of three times a week at school and we expect that they read four times a week at home. In the reading diary the children need to have four ticks per week and they are awarded Dojo points for every time they read at home. This adds up to a class percentage which is then shared with the school and senior leaders. All staff have a reading journal to record those children who are reading four times a week and we will support you to achieve this. All classrooms have an exciting themed reading area with a wide selection of books and a well stocked school library. Your child will also choose a book from the coloured book band boxes to read at home which contain decodable and tricky words. These can be changed as frequently as required.

Book bands

The books that the children take home are organised into coloured book bands. Please see below the expected book band for each term in each year. Children learn at different rates, so will have additional support if they do not meet the benchmark for each term. This may be additional reading at school, a specific programme or they may be invited to breakfast reading club.

The chart below is from the HIAS Book band guidance across the primary range. It shows the end of year expectations for each year group. Dark grey shows the expected level.

Guided Reading in Year 1 and 2

We continue to teach phonics daily in year 1 using the same scheme. As children become more fluent and confident with their reading we focus on the child's comprehension and understanding of what they have read, This is done through daily guided reading sessions. Throughout the week your child will have the opportunity to read at least twice a week with an adult so they can apply their phonic and tricky word recognition and develop their comprehension skills. We continue to read Bug Club phonic books at school and allocate these books matched to our teaching until the child can blend and read all Phase 2,3,4 and 5 digraphs and trigraphs. Our guided reading sessions are carefully planned so we can move the children's reading forward by teaching how to re-read sections aloud to practise fluency, to learn how to answer questions by retrieving facts and information, to predict what they think will happen, to make simple inferences such as; which words and actions by the character are telling you they are happy? We also teach the children to summarise and explain what they have read. We ask children to make connections between what they have read and their own experiences of other books they have read, to consider how the language and vocabulary is used effectively and to learn to 'read between the lines' to gain a deeper understanding.

What other opportunities will my child have to read across the curriculum?

Reading is everywhere at Stoke Park Infant School. We hold daily DEAR sessions, weekly Stay and read sessions where adults are encouraged to come in and read with their child and a weekly Friday book swap where all children can take a book to read and return it the following week and swap it for another one. We want children to learn to read and then read to learn. Each class has a library session where the children visit the library and practise library skills such as finding books on certain topics they are interested in and learning to scan their book out to themselves. We have author and theatre visits and we encourage all children to take part in The Hampshire Library Reading challenges. We have come top of the leader board for the past 2 years for uptake of this reading challenge which shows our children love to read and gain so much pleasure from it. We also take part in the year one picture book award where they children have a selection of books read to them and then they vote for their favourite.

Stoke Park Reading Trails

Each half term the children are challenged to complete a reading trail. They have 6 activities to complete e.g. read with a toy, read with a torch, read at breakfast time, read with a younger or older member of your family. Once they have completed their challenges they return their form to school and we celebrate their achievements in an assembly where we invite the parents in. They are awarded a different colour certificate each half term and a small prize such as a badge, pencil or book mark.

Feedback from parents is really positive.

'My child has loved the reading trails and it has re-awakened their love of reading. They  now want to read all of the time!'

'It made me realise that reading can be done at any time and in any place, not just at bedtime.'

'It gives them a real sense of ownership. They have been keen to read on their own to complete the challenges, rather than me telling them they have to read.'

Children say:

'It is so much fun, I read to me teddy!'

'I loved reading with a torch under my bed covers.'

'I love the challenges, they are so much fun and I loved getting my certificate in the assembly.'

'I read to my chickens and I'm sure they loved it.'

'I read with my granny and we laughed together.'

Every day after lunch the children have a 10 minute DEAR session. Some of the books and poems are chosen by them and some are chosen by the year team to ensure that all children have they same access to linked texts, performance poetry and seasonal texts.