Reading

Reading and Phonics

At Earlswood, we are extremely passionate about providing an enabling environment that encourages a love of reading. A strong ethos of reading is built throughout the early years through systematic teaching of phonics following the Little Wandle programme. Role play opportunities and independent learning stations are often linked to books and encourage children to build a bank of familiar stories to recall and use in their literacy. 

Reading lessons are centered around a carefully selected text which aims to challenge all pupils. Within the reading lessons the children are taught to retrieve, infer, predict, sequence and analyse key vocabulary in the text. These skills equip the children with the comprehension skills they need to enjoy stories and become lifelong readers. 

Throughout the Federation, we ensure that all children are exposed to a wealth of high-quality literature. Each year group has a reading spine which consists of key stories, picture books, poems and non-fiction which will be read and drawn upon and referred to when teaching writing. 

Reading for Pleasure

At The Federation of Earlswood Schools we believe that reading should be a fundamental part of childhood and a skill which should be developed to support lifelong learning. Our aim is to develop and embed a strong, sustainable reading culture within the school community.

Confident and competent readers will foster a love of reading through a rich and varied experience of texts, in which they are empowered to exercise freedoms of choice and independence. Inspiring children to read is a moral imperative and their fundamental right. It underpins all learning and secures a good trajectory for personal development, understanding the world in which they live. We believe that a reading child is a successful child and that:

• children deserve a rich curriculum which encourages extensive reading of books and other kinds of texts;
• planning enables links across learning, which create a wide range of opportunities in which children can read for pleasure;
• children will have the opportunity to experience whole books to support them in their understanding of literary structures and allow them to become absorbed in the story itself;
• the active encouragement of reading for pleasure should be a core part of every child’s educational entitlement, whatever their background or attainment. Extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts make a huge contribution to students’ educational achievement;
• all children should have access to a wide range of texts in different formats and genres and support in enjoying them where necessary;
• the school will engage and support parents in enabling access to a full range of reading experiences. Where this is not possible, action will be taken to provide compensatory measures which allow equality of access to all children;
• home-school relationships will promote the importance of all adults in fostering a love of reading
• professional development and support for teachers will be provided to allow them to explore the huge range of printed and electronic reading materials available and to enable them to support children in their reading choices.

The school has a commitment to evaluate the outcomes of this Reading for Pleasure statement and continually review practice to ensure all children become lifelong readers.

We follow Little Wandle, which is a validated SPP programme. 

The overview for this programme is below: