We ensure that all of our children have time everyday to read and also be read to. We invest heavily in the books we have in school to match our children’s interests as well offering them a representative range of authors, characters, genres and styles. We encourage all of our children and staff to share recommendations with each other.

We took the decision three years ago to stop setting topic based homework tasks in favour of advocating daily home reading. We have seen good progress in lots of our children’s reading ability and enthusiasm as a result of this.

As it is the beginning of the new school year, I wanted to take the time to remind all of our school community about our adamant belief that being literate changes a child’s life.

Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment everyday not only perform better in reading tests but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. Reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.

We therefore expect children to not only read everyday at school but also at home. We understand this will look different for different children. For some it will require adult support but for others it will not. For some it will require reading full decodable books but for others it will not.
We urge you to promote daily reading with your child and to be a positive reading role model.

We are always here to offer support and guidance should you have any questions linked to your child’s reading whether that be ability or enthusiasm.