Reading at St. Peter's

Reading is placed at the core of our teaching and learning at St. Peter’s Cross Keys and is an integral part of our curriculum.

EYFS and Key Stage 1

During the school day, Foundation and Key Stage 1 children will receive a phonics session as well as a guided reading session, focusing on the sounds and words that have been covered during their phonics session.

Daily reading at home

Your child will then bring home the book which they have covered as part of our guided reading sessions in the previous week. This book will be sent home to build on their fluency and confidence to tackle longer words and ensure there are no phonic misconceptions when they are reading with you at home. It also allows opportunities for the children to revisit and consolidate previous sounds and words they have learnt to read. In allowing the children to read a book at school before sending it home, they are able to become fluent in that text, this then allows them to begin to develop their comprehension skills alongside their word recognition. So please do not worry if it seems your child may have read this text before, as this will help to build their reading confidence. We will note down any targets or goals your child is working on in their reading diary. 

Your child will also be bringing home a free choice book. These have been organised so they are year group appropriate, meaning that the book that your child brings home is not only something that they are interested in, but also something that is aspirational for them and their reading. When choosing a free choice book, children will be encouraged to do this independently in order to build their own curiosity around different text types. The free choice book that your child brings home, is a text for you to share with your child and read alongside them as it may contain words that they are unfamiliar with.

Please get in touch if you have any questions at all about reading or phonics in KS1 at St Peter's.

Key Stage 2

Throughout Key Stage 2 (KS2), some children continue to access daily phonics sessions in groups to address gaps in their learning, which are based upon half-termly assessments. Those children who are accessing our phonics programme, or who are working below age-related expectations in reading will also have extra 1:1 reading sessions each week to develop their fluency. In addition to this, all KS2 children will participate in daily whole-class guided reading lessons. These will be centered around developing them as readers by focusing on fluency, breadth and depth of vocabulary and knowledge of age-appropriate comprehension skills.

Daily reading at home

Your child will then bring home either a phonics book or a colour-banded book, depending on their developmental reading level. This book will be sent home to build on their decoding competency, fluency and ensure there are no phonic misconceptions when they are reading with you at home. We encourage children to re-read these texts to build confidence and to begin to develop their comprehension skills alongside their word recognition and fluency. So please do not worry if it seems your child may have read this text before.

Your child may also choose to bring home a ‘free choice’ book. These have been organised so they are year group appropriate meaning that the book that your child brings home is not only something that they are interested in, but also something that is aspirational for them and their reading. When choosing a free choice book, children will be encouraged to do this independently in order to build their own curiosity around different text types and again develop them as readers by learning how to select books effectively. The free choice book that your child brings home is a text for you to share with your child and read alongside them if needed, as it may contain words that they are unfamiliar with.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions at all about reading or phonics in KS2 at St. Peter’s.

Reading for pleasure across school

Here at St. Peter’s, we believe that if children love to read it becomes easier for them to learn to read. If they master both, this results in children who choose to read! Therefore, we do place emphasis on developing a love for reading alongside the teaching of reading. Here are some of the ways in which we endeavour to do this:

• Weekly books clubs in KS2 (including child and teacher-led book recommendations, spotlights on children’s authors).
• Designated Reading for Pleasure time in KS1 (getting snuggled with a 'free choice' book).
• Class story time across school at least 4 times per week (here the children enjoy aspirational and high quality texts read by the teacher).
• Use of high quality texts across the curriculum (including in English, PSHE and other wider curriculum areas).
• Inviting reading environments (e.g. forward-facing spotlight books and recommendations).
• Peer reading buddies (KS2 children sharing books with KS1 and Foundation).