Each half term every class has a core text which their reading and writing are based on. We ensure that a diverse range of texts are used across the school. The books chosen are a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, set in places all around the world, by male and female authors and with characters from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Additional texts are chosen as class stories or for use in Guided Reading sessions.
Writing
In Writing, high-quality texts are used to inspire children’s creativity. We believe that talk and being exposed to a high repertoire of stories encourages children to develop their writing skills. Talk4Writing, a programme developed by Pie Corbett, is used to support the teaching of Writing. We use a cross curricular approach to really immerse the children into their topics.
Reading
At St Anne’s we promote a rich reading environment to encourage reading for pleasure. There are many reading opportunities for all children. We have weekly parent reading where parents are invited into their child’s classroom, story times, Buddy Reading, 1:1 reading and group or whole class Guided Reading.
It is so important that reading is promoted and encouraged at home as well as in school.
“Young people who read outside of class daily are 13 times more likely to read above the expected level for their age.” National Literacy Trust
In school, we use a range of schemes to support children’s reading including Reading Champions, Bug Club and Oxford Reading Tree. Children have home reading journals which gives parents and teachers the opportunity to share how children are progressing in reading. In EYFS and Key Stage 1, children also have the opportunity to bring home a ‘sharing book’ which is book of their choice to enjoy with an adult at home as well as a book at their appropriate phonics level.
In Guided Reading children are exposed to high quality texts suitable for their year group, adapted from Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine.
In Key Stage 2, children are all taking part in a Reading Challenge. Children win Bronze, Silver and Gold awards for when they read 10, 20 and 30 books!