We love reading at SJS and value it centrally to every part of the curriculum. 

But 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 life-long ability to be enjoyed.

Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.

Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out print. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a rich and wide vocabulary. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start 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.

How will school support young readers?

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

• VIPERS

Through the use of VIPERS, children will practise their vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising/sequencing skills.  Lessons take place weekly and are planned around an enjoyable text that has been carefully selected for that year group.

• Reading Fluency

School will soon be embarking on the Herts for Learning KS2 Reading Fluency Project, which incorporates the strategies of modelled expressive reading, echo reading, repeated re-reading, skilled questioning, challenging text selection and modelling comprehension skills, to propel all student  towards the expected standard in reading at the end of KS2 as a minimum.

• Accelerated Reader

Pupils are familiar with the Accelerated Reader system.  The system allows pupils to track their reading progress, keep a record of the books they have read, and quiz the reader on the book they have just finished.  All this allows for a simplified way of children selecting the correct level of book for them using their provided ZPD (zone of proximal development) level.