READING

At Holt Farm Infants School we aim to foster a love of reading within our children. We encourage them to read both for pleasure and in order to gain information.

Reading is promoted across the curriculum and occurs all the time. teaching children to read is one of the most important aspects of their learning and children are taught the knowledge and skills of reading to become confident and effective readers.

All our classrooms have a book corner with an array of interesting texts to instil a passion for reading in every single pupil. Integral to everything we do, is ensuring that we provide an environment where children see the true value of reading and develop a love for the written word. Our library is key to this and children have weekly school library sessions when they can choose from a selection of fiction and non-fiction books to share at home. The children also visit Rochford Library to experience a working library and to encourage them to join the library.

School book fairs, visiting story-tellers, theatre groups, book weeks dressing up as characters from books and celebrating World Book day are just a few ways in which we encourage children to become excited about reading!

Children at Holt Farm Infant School children learn to read by being taught a combination of

• Synthetic phonics to blend and segment words
• Sight recognition of high frequency words
• Comprehension skills such as context clues and picture clues

PHONICS

In Reception, we use the "Twinkl" scheme to support the children’s understanding of letter sounds. In Years 1 and 2 children have daily differentiated phonics lessons to include the aspects of revision, teaching, practicing and applying their knowledge and skills.

READING SCHEMES

The school reading scheme follows the Oxford Reading Tree colour bandings with additional books incorporated into these bandings.

Our book band coloured books are arranged in progressive steps to ensure sustained progress and we encourage the development of a wide-ranging set of reading skills within each level.

Children are regularly assessed to ascertain whether they are ready to take on the challenge of the next reading level.

The children choose their own books 2-3 times a week from the banded selection of books enabling them to take ownership of their own reading.

Each child has a reading diary to accompany the books they take home. The teacher comments on the child’s progress in reading and parents are encouraged to make their own comments about their child’s reading.

In Reception keyword, checks and individual reading takes place weekly. In Years 1 and 2 weekly guided reading sessions take place with the class teacher where a text is read, discussed and explored as a group. Alongside this, individual reading takes place with an adult.

In Year R keyword checks and individual reading takes place weekly.

In Years 1 & 2 weekly guided reading sessions take place along with individual reading with an adult in school.

Other reading activities in school include:

• Literacy lessons each day
• A book corner in each classroom with a range of books for children to choose from
• Weekly school library sessions for children to choose a library book
• Booster sessions to support individual and group literacy skills
• Comprehension groups to extend more able readers
• Visits to Rochford library and talks in school from the librarian.

HELPING YOUR CHILD WITH READING AT HOME

• Share and read regularly with your child
• Practice the high-frequency words
• Talk about the books and ask questions about the stories
• Enjoy lots of books at home as well as the school books
• Visit the local library
• Communicate and share your child’s progress with the teacher through the home/school reading diary.