At Twydall Primary School, we recognise the importance of reading as a life skill that opens doors to learning in all subjects - reading is key to learning and has a direct impact on progress across the curriculum.   At Twydall, children to learn to read so that they can read to learn.  

We recognise the unique ability that being a lover of reading has upon the happiness of our children and we recognise the importance of teaching reading as a way of offering children experiences beyond their everyday. 

Reading therefore, is central to everything we do. We are a reading school – we promote reading for pleasure in a variety of creative and engaging ways, alongside teaching reading as a subject in its own right from years 2 – 6.  

Exploring English Literature

Throughout the academic year, we believe that our pupils should be exposed to a range of texts. These are chosen to suit the topics the children will be focusing on in either Humanities or Science. These topics are as follows: 

Big Issues (e.g. refugee crisis, global warming, mental wellbeing and relationships)

War and Conflict (within the UK, rest of the World and historic events)

Sci-Fi and Fantasy (engaging the imagination of our pupils!) 

Authors Around The World (exposing children to more than our local heritage!) 

Local and British Authors (building that inspirational understanding of who they could become)

Pupil Choice (e.g. a book to suit their chosen topic, their favourite author, a way to provide children with the ownership over their learning) 

We have developed a close relationship with Twydall Library to borrow books on specific topics such as The Polar areas.

We promote reading across all the curriculum areas. 

Whole class reading lesson sequence is as follows: 

• Review previous learning (purple pen to edit and improve learning/address common misconceptions) 
• Recall/Retrieval activities for memory (leading to application to other areas and depth of learning) 
• Pre-teach Key vocabulary, followed by vocabulary investigation where appropriate 
• Reading aloud (teacher then children), followed by independent/small group reading for familiarity and fluency
• Whole class discussion/questioning/quick retrieval/idea gathering
• Introduce key concept/s 
• Focused work in groups and/or independently (finding information/answering questions/making comparisons/character study/creating questions – see reading curriculum maps for each year group activities)
• Plenary/Review/assess/next steps (recall activities/memory activities) 

Reading for Pleasure: 

Our school libraries are cosy, comfortable and accessible spaces where children can relax, read and discuss books with their peers and adults.  The library is well-stocked with a range of fiction and non-fiction books, newspapers and magazines appealing to all ages and tastes. 

 

At the end of each school day, every child across the school leaves Twydall with a ‘story in their head’ through the read aloud session when teachers and children read aloud to the class. 

We understand the significant role played by parents and support staff as well as teachers and so we expect that children read at home for a minimum of 15 minutes per day with an adult.  This is recorded in the child’s reading record and checked by teachers/support staff each day.  

Other ways we promote reading for pleasure within our school: 

• Community reading – library visits, author visits during Book Week, shared reading with peers, teachers sharing reading in class to demonstrate reading fluency and intonation 

• Allocated library sessions for years 3 – 6 during whole class reading sessions (time to read, review, discuss and recommend books) 

• Book challenges to carry out during half terms to encourage reading outside of the classroom

• Sponsored read – carried out each year in March via 'Read for Good'

• School display to promote reading across the school with interactive questioning

• Engaging book corners in every classroom including EYFS 

• Books available on the playground for pupils to read during lunch times to encourage outdoor learning

• Parent reading mornings for Mother's/Father's day

Reading techniques to help your child.

To support parents to help their child’s reading development, we have produced a list of questions that you can ask your child before and during reading sessions. These questions will focus their attention on punctuation and the words used in their books. This technique works well when a few questions from each section are asked during reading sessions – we are not expecting you to cover the whole list each night.

Before you start to read, focus your child’s attention on the page. Children need to become familiar with the material before they read.

Discuss the picture in the book (or on the front cover):

• What’s happening?
• What’s the time of day?
• What will happen next?
• How do the characters feel?
• How does it make you feel?
• How many children/characters do you see?

Now, read a page or two and to help your child understand how language is written, ask a few questions from the list below. 

Ask the children to quickly find:

• A specific word
• A full stop
• A question mark
• An exclamation mark
• Some speech marks

To help your child understand the meaning of what they have read, ask a few questions from the list below.

Ask your child to quickly point to a word that:

• Begins with the sound of ____​
• Ends with the sound of_____
• Means ______
• Means the opposite of ______
• Is the name of a girl/ boy/ animal/ place
• Is a colour word
• Tells us what time of day it is