Reading

Reading Leads: Mrs Pettitt and Mrs Smith

Governor Lead: Graham Jordan

At Heath, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill for everyday life that opens up a world of knowledge and imagination. Our key aim is to foster a real passion and enjoyment for reading through the use of high quality and diverse fiction and non-fiction texts, poetry and rhymes. Our reading journey starts in the Early Years where children are exposed to a large range of high-quality stories, poems and rhymes fostering a language rich environment; this leads on to the teaching of decoding skills through the use of RWI to develop independent readers; finally, comprehension skills are developed using the use of reading skills. All children have access to a range of texts in year groups libraries and book corners. Teachers help to foster the passion for reading by setting aside time daily to read and share texts with the children. This facilitates a discussion on the text and exposes children to a wider vocabulary.

Reading Progression

Reading Progression Map

Heath's Reading Spine

The aim of our reading spine is to provide an extensive list of books which staff can apply to their own long-term plans. These are books to use as class reads, topic books, free choice reads or as extracts to supplement lessons. The intention is that by the time they reach year 6 and beyond, the children have developed a wide, rich vocabulary and broader knowledge of the world. It should be noted that book and text selection in school not only considers narratives and poems but also recognises that a good balance of topic-appropriate non-fiction should also be read to help further develop children’s background knowledge of the subject they are studying. Diversity has also been considered carefully so that the children are exposed to a wide range of authors, characters and subject matters.

The books have been selected to consider three areas: learning to read, access to high quality texts to enable access for all (during reading enrichment and class reads) and to promote reading for pleasure and experiential and language development through information texts.

Heath's Reading Spine

Heath's Class Reads

We have adopted Pie Corbett’s recommended books at the school. It is a store of classics and essential reads that help children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story. As the children move up through the school, they will build a living library inside their minds that brings reading to life and help to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Reading With Your Child

reading with your child.pdf

Good Book Guide

If you are looking for inspiration for birthday presents, Christmas presents, or simply great books to read at home, check out BookTrust's Great Book Guide. The guide picks out some of the best books from the past year that will get children excited about reading.

Accelerated Reader

Phonics

We use the Read Write Inc. (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. You can find out more about our approach to phonics here.