Reading
It is our intent at Cookridge Holy Trinity to ensure that all our pupils become enthusiastic and motivated readers who have a love of literature and enjoy reading, not just for pleasure, but to gain a better understanding of the world around them. Consequently, reading and books under-pin our entire curriculum. We aim to build children’s confidence in reading by immersing them in a wide range of genres and text types and give them the skills to decode words in order to read fluently with a solid understanding of what they have read.
How is reading taught?
As a school we believe that the progressive teaching of phonics is one of the most effective methods to create accurate and fluent readers. We follow the ‘Success for All’ systematic synthetic phonics scheme (SSP): validated by the DFE, and provided by FFT. The scheme ensures a rigorous approach to the teaching of phonics and early reading in school. More information can be found here.
Children also take part in reading fluency sessions which focus in developing reading stamina and fluency through modelled and shared reading activities.
From Year 2 onwards children are explicitly taught comprehension skills though the use of VIPERS:
VIPERS are used as part of whole class guided reading sessions and cover all the skill areas children need to master to successfully comprehend a text. More focus is put on vocabulary, retrieve and inference, especially in Year 2.
Texts used cover a wide range of genres and include fiction, non-fiction and poetry. During sessions children are encouraged to explore the text by using the question stems below to aid discussion. Written tasks are then set by the teaching linking to one or more of the VIPERS domains.
*VIPERS were created by Rob Smith – Literacy Shed
Policies and Rationales
English Reading Rationale – Intent, Implementation and Impact
Planning and Progression
Reading skills progression EYFS
Class texts overview
Photos
Reading Ambassadors
Each class has elected a Reading Ambassador. These children are responsible for promoting a love of reading across school, recommending books to others, supporting other children in the library and being a voice for reading in school.
Reading for pleasure
- 100 books to read before you leave Cookridge Holy Trinity
- Our book recommendations
- Empathy Lab recommended reads 2022
Reading for empathy
- Empathy Day 2022 – The Invisible
- Empathy Day 2021 – We’re all wonders
- Empathy Lab
Celebrating reading at Cookridge Holy Trinity
Year 2 had a lovely morning reading with their parents and grandparents. The children loved sharing their favourite stories and reading with each other. Click here to see some photos.
Reading fluency
- Herts for learning reading fluency project – Year 5
- Benefits of reading fluency
EBooks
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Class log in: htrbe
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