We love reading at SJS! It is not just essential and central to our curriculum, but it is a powerful tool for personal development and growth, intellectual stimulation and enrichment, and emotional well-being.

Why do we value reading?

We believe that reading is the foundation for everything in life.  It isn't just a skill, but something that has a life-long ability to be enjoyed. The purpose is two-fold: enjoyment and learning and when these overlap, the magic truly happens!

How will school support young readers?

Learning to read is about listening and understanding, as well as decoding print. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a rich and wide vocabulary. This helps them develop their own vocabulary and improve their auditory understanding, which is vital as they begin to read. It’s important for them to understand how stories work as well. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they’ll hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.

Using the fantastic resources that we have in school, we strive to develop a love for reading and introduce students to different types of text, authors and genres.

Oxford Reading Tree

We now have an excellent range of Oxford reading tree books, allowing our students to follow a structured approach to their class and home reading. We also have a reading for pleasure book that runs alongside the ORT choices. Because children need a diverse range of texts to build their vocabulary, and we know that different children are engaged by different genres and topics, Oxford Reading Tree has developed an extensive range of series to help schools teach children to read, to enjoy reading.

VIPERS

Through the use of VIPERS, children will practise their vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising/sequencing skills. These sessions may take place in guided reading or within support sessions. 

Guided Reading

Guided reading sessions are planned into each timetable across school. Students will work in small groups with the teacher over the week, accessing materials at their level and for their enjoyment. These activities may be based around a text, grammar and construction of the genre, independent reading skills and the use of the library-which we all love!

Early Readers

In our school library we have two main fiction sections, upper and lower school.  Our shelves are bursting with high quality and accessible texts. These books are age appropriate and sequenced in alphabetical order, helping our students access their favourite authors and genres. We also have a range of early chapter books and stage reading material, including Rocket Phonics. 

Reading at home

As part of our school improvement plan, we are actively encouraging children to become passionate readers.  A part of this project for improvement, it involves developing a love for reading at home too. Modelling reading, encouraging reading of all kinds is so important to individual progress. 

We encourage our learners to aspire to 'read the rainbow'! Each student has a book marker, in their daily record, they can cross out how many reads they have undertaken, at 20 reads there is a certificate presented in Praise Assembly and a reward! Names can then be popped onto our reading rainbow as we follow the tokens around! 

How to help your child with reading at home:

This reading doesn’t just have to be their reading book, although that’s a great start. Also, reading doesn’t stop once we know all the letters and sounds – read with your child for as long as they will let you. All types of reading are useful – try as many as you can, for example:

• Start with your child’s reading scheme book. These books will improve reading skills at the just the right level to give challenge and practise. Moving up through the colours or levels can be very important to children and this will help them progress
• Try and read other books at the same level as your child’s reading book. Look at Reading with Oxford or our free ebook library for inspiration
• Follow your child’s natural interest and look up information on the internet. They won’t notice that they are practising their reading. They will also be practising vital retrieval and research skills
• Some children just prefer non-fiction. Reading non-fiction is a great way to improve vocabulary, learn how to tackle new words, improve knowledge and develop a love for reading. Joke books, fact books, top ten books are all just as good for learning to read as reading fiction
• Many children love graphic novels or comics. These are great for developing imagination. Children also learn how stories are presented in different ways and understand how pictures and text work together. There’s also quite a bit of reading between the lines needed here
• Read signs and information boards as you are out and about. These often contain new vocabulary to discuss. Recipes or instructions for craft projects are also great for this and also encourage us to read with accuracy