Reading at Home

Home-School Reading Partnership

We believe that children learn best when they are supported at home and at school with their reading. We therefore have an expectation that pupils will receive daily reading support at home to build on and consolidate learning at school.

All pupils are provided with a ‘Home-School Partnership Book’ where children record their home and school reading. It is expected that pupils will read at home each evening and that parents will support their children in their reading and sign the reading record pages, from Nursery through to Year 6.

As well as containing pages for children to record their home and school reading, there is also:

•          Information to support parents with their children’s reading
•        A reading agreement which outlines school and home expectations
•        A clear chart for individual children’s reading expectations
•        A table to record new and unfamiliar vocabulary which children have encountered
•        A record of their Accelerated Reader (AR) quiz scores. 

Home Reading in FS and KS1

This begins in Nursery, where children are provided with engaging books each night, to take home and share with parents and carers. The aim is to develop an interest and love of books and stories which will continue as they move up through the school.

As children’s phonic knowledge improves to a point at which they are beginning to blend sounds, children are provided with decodeable ‘Oxford Reading Tree’ books which help the children to apply their phonic knowledge in context. Children move through the stages progressively, building on their prior knowledge.

For more information about ORT levels and how to support your pupils at home, please click on the links below.

When children have moved through the ORT books and are confident in their decoding and comprehension skills, they move onto banded books.

Home Reading in KS2

In KS2, children start using a program called ‘Accelerated Reader’. Accelerated Reader is a system for levelling books and keeping track of children’s developing comprehension skills.

At the end of each term, every child in KS2 takes a ‘STAR Reading Test’ which provides children with a range of book levels at which they will learn best. Each child will then be given a specific book level from the middle of this range. Children then select books at this level to read.

After they have finished a book, children take a quiz to check their understanding of what they have read, during 15 minute daily Accelerated Reader sessions. Children are then informed of their score and how close they are to their target. This information is recorded in their Home-School Partnership Books, so that parents are aware of their children’s progress. Teachers also use this information to discuss with the children their reading, what they need to work on and how to move forward. Children will start off with low-point (short) books within their level and move onto higher point (longer) books as their scores improve, therefore challenging their comprehension skills, and ensuring that they are constantly progressing in their reading.

Children’s progress is celebrated within class with pupils earning 2 merits for 100% scores, 1 merit for scores above 80% and verbal praise for scores over 60%. Pupils are also able to earn certificates when they have achieved certain goals. These certificates are presented to children in weekly merit assemblies and shared with the rest of the school.

We are aware that reading at home can sometimes be difficult. If you would like more support, please contact your child’s teacher or click on the links below for further information.