Reading

We pride ourselves in celebrating a love of reading throughout school from the moment the pupils arrive until the moment they leave. We encourage pupils to develop a love of reading so that they become life-long readers. It is our aim to ensure that pupils become fluent readers as early as possible. We recognise how crucial this is for pupils to be able to access all areas of the curriculum.

There are inviting reading areas situated throughout the academy where children may sit and read for pleasure. We have also invested in phonetically decodable home-reading books to make sure children are taking home a book that is matched to their reading ability. Furthermore, books are strategically placed in classrooms and in corridors that allow children to further their knowledge on subjects that may interest them. Our intent is that no child should leave our school without being able to read.

A strategic approach to story time is being embedded. All pupils in the academy enjoy listening to an age appropriate story every day. Each classroom is transformed in to an inviting environment where the pupils are able to lose themselves in the imaginary world inspired by the story telling experience.

Reading Newsletters

To promote a love of reading throughout school, pupils are invited to share and recommend the books they have enjoyed through their contributions to half termly reading newsletters. These newsletters can be found in the links below.

Early Reading

At Southmere Primary Academy we start children’s reading journey by providing every child that starts in Reception with an book bag package that includes; a book of nursery rhymes,and a guide for supporting early phonics and reading at home.

In EYFS and KS1 children will be given a book that allows them to apply their phonics learning. The teacher will ensure that the book is decodable and contains the graphemes and tricky words that are needed to read the text. Your child should be able to read their ‘take home’ book with around 95% fluency, if a child struggles to read the book their comprehension and enjoyment of the text will be compromised.

Children should keep their reading book in their book bag and bring it to school every day along with their Reading Record. We encourage children to read at home every day.

In class, children will read daily. Either as part of the ELS phonics session, as part of a group guided reading session, as part of the Delta Reading Strategy lesson or one to one reading with an adult. Throughout school we intend to develop fluency at every level.

Online Reading Platforms

Children in Key Stage 2 have access to the online reading platform, Reading Plus, to support them further with their reading.

Reading Plus is a personalised online program that helps students develop skills they need to be confident, capable readers and lifelong learners.

You can also access free books on Oxford Owl:

Reading Challenge

Your child will also bring home a book to read for the purposes of developing their comprehension skills and ensuring children have an enjoyable and rich reading experience. These books have been chosen to create a high quality and vocabulary rich reading spine across the school.

The Reading Challenge book lists for each year group can be found below.

The Reading Strategy

The Reading Strategy is a trust-wide approach to develop reading comprehension skills. It takes place EVERY day from EYFS-Y6.  It incorporates age-appropriate, challenging texts, which are rich in vocabulary.

The core texts are:

YearAutumn TermSpring TermSummer Term
Year 1The Tin ForestTraction ManDogger
Year 2The TunnelThe Owl who was Afraid of the DarkGeorge’s Marvellous Medicine
Year 3This Morning I met a WhaleCharlie and the Chocolate FactoryCharlotte’s Web
Year 4Iron ManKrindle KraxHarry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Year 5Street ChildKenzukie’s KingdomWho let the God’s out?
Year 6The Boy in the Striped PyjamasCogheartBlack Powder

Pupils in Key Stage 1 will access a 30-40 minute whole class text reading session twice a week as well as the daily group guided reading sessions using a book suitable to their level. In Key Stage 2 the amount of days focused on the core text will increase dependent on children’s decoding and fluency ability. The texts generally last for one full term and non-fiction, poetry and play scripts are taught alongside this.