Reading
Vision Statement for English
Rossett Acre’s vision for English is to engender a life-long love of language and communication through the use of purposeful teaching, using bespoke, immersive activities which inspire, interest and excite the children. This will result in motivated writers and children who enjoy reading for pleasure.
Daily Reading
Teachers at Rossett Acre read daily to their classes. This helps develop children’s comprehension skills and a love of books. When children read themselves for 20 minutes a day, this enables them to read 1,800,000 words a year which has a major impact on their learning. However, listening to stories is also of vital importance.
Benefits of Reading
- Relaxing and reduces stress
- Improves memory
- Increases intelligence and imagination
- Provides mental stimulation
- Increases vocabulary
- Better writing skills
Imagined Things Book Bags
Classes regularly enjoy exploring a brand-new book from The Imagined Things book collection. This collection of high quality texts has grown over the past few years to include a very diverse selection of books. There is a wide range of picture books to support the understanding of the Protected Characteristics of the 2010 Equality Act. Everyone is VERY enthusiastic!
Wordsmiths and Librarians
Our Year 6 Wordsmiths run the school Book fair, order books and read with younger children. They have also created Themed Book Boxes which classes can borrow as well as curating the Rossett Acre Recommended Reads. We are building on our activities this year so the Wordsmiths can help develop reading across school.
All KS2 classes have Class Librarians to help promote reading within their classes and finding out which new books their class would like.
Learning To Read
Children in Early Years learn to read using their phonics skills. Here at Rossett Acre we use the Little Wandle scheme which draws on the latest research into how children learn best; how to ensure learning stays in children’s long term memory and how best to enable children to apply their learning to become highly competent readers.
Supporting your child with reading
Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.
There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:
A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.
A sharing book. Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.
Reading practice book
This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.
Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.
Sharing book
In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.
Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!
Bespoke Interventions
Our talented teachers use bespoke interventions to help children who are struggling with reading. There are daily catch-up Little Wandle phonics sessions for those children who need a little extra practice. We also offer fluency activities, computer based Units of Sounds, Phonics Heroes or another suitable intervention. Ask your teacher what is available in school to help support and develop your child’s needs.
Challenging Readers and Writers
Children of all ages take part in a range of diverse reading activities to develop a love of reading which then feeds into their writing. Our older children have been influenced by Victorian Gothic texts as well as Civil Rights Poetry to produce their own writing which has been published online. Our school has been commended nationally by a number of leading education specialists for its rich use of literature which leads to high quality writing by children.
Reading Fluency
All children from Y1 upwards have been assessed for their reading fluency (the pace of their reading) using the fluency rubric produced by leading fluency expert, Professor Tim Rasinski. Any weaknesses can be strategically identified so that improvements can be accelerated. Reading out loud at home and at school helps improve fluency and reading stamina. This is something we can work on together.
