At Chantry learning to read and reading for pleasure it is at the heart of everything we do. Developing children’s enjoyment of reading helps to grow a range skills that children will use and need in their future lives. Our literacy lessons use the Power of Reading, where the children study a high quality text for a term. They delve into the characters and events and exploring the books through active learning such as role play and debate, leading to high quality writing. By exploring books in this detail the children learn skills such as making inferences with evidence and skimming and scanning for information.

To help develop our children as readers and to ensure that they are reading and choosing books at an appropriate level, we use a programme called accelerated reader. This is where the children an online Star Test, to work out accurately where their reading level is and the books they can choose. Once they have completed the test, they are provided with a ZPD range which gives them a range of numbers in which they can select books. This allows them to read at the right level but still be able to select their books. Once they have completed the book they are reading, they complete a quick quiz on a computer which assess how well they have read the book. This also provides the children with a word count so they can see how many words they have read.

To complement Accelerated reader, each child also has access to MYON. This is a programme that has a section of thousands of online books that are linked directly to Accelerated reader.

Although the children are provided with an opportunity to read at school, it is vital that they read at home. The expectation is that all children in KS1 read for at least 10 minutes 3x weekly and that KS2 children read for at least 20 minutes 3x weekly. Although the expectation is 3x weekly, the more days that the children read at home, the better it is for the children. Every time a child reads at home, the expectation is that their reading record book is signed. In years 1-4 this should be by a parent/carer and in 5 and 6, the children are expected to record their own reading.

To celebrate and encourage the reading at home that happens we also take part in Buster’s Book club. This is where the children, on a Wednesday evening, are encouraged to record how many minutes they have read at home. These are collected and submitted to Buster’s book club and the children and school have the opportunity to win some excellent prizes.