Reading is embedded in life at St. Cuthbert’s
We understand how important reading is and through Read Write Inc (RWI), which is our structured systematic phonics programme, effective fast track phonics sessions and focussed reading groups we provide all the tools & skills our children need to develop & leave St. Cuthbert’s as fluent, articulate & confident young readers.
On entry to school, our Nursery children join our phonics groups straight away, learning letters and sounds in a fun and exciting way. You will often hear the younger children repeating songs and nursery rhymes sang in class. All children in EYFS & KS1 take home weekly books linked to the sounds taught that week.
All children also take home a ‘reading for pleasure book’, which they can share with enthusiasm with family and friends. Each class has a well stocked library.
Our Nursery children are also given appropriate books to bring home and share with a grown up.
Reading is a priority from entry and our children love to read.
We are very fortunate that from September 2023 will be working in partnership with the English HUB. Working alongside Literacy specialists will ensure we continue to thrive as a school who love to read and support our children with their reading throughout their primary years and beyond. We have also recently received funding from the English HUB to update all early reading and phonics resources as well as ensuring all our staff are up to date with their training and knowledge. Our very generous PFA are also supporting us in purchasing a range of new books for our KS2 children, including intervention books for our older children, who may require extra support.
Mrs Bone and Mrs Meyerhoff led a reading meeting in September to support parents with reading at home.
If you were unable to join us for our meeting, please look through our presentation and follow the links for support…
We regularly update DOJOs with the sounds each phonics group has been focusing on. We also upload a ‘how to’ guide to support parents with pronunciation in order to support their children with their reading.
7 Top Tips to Support Reading at Home
Shared reading is a great way to develop children’s language and communication and to boost their reading skills.
Regular reading routines can offer lots of opportunities for learning. Here are some top tips on how to support your child reading at home.
If appropriate, translator apps can be used to read this document.
We also want our children to progress through school as confident public speakers…
Every week our children the opportunity to lead our weekly ‘Golden Book’ praise assembly. Often we see our youngest children sitting alongside their older peers, leading our weekly celebration assembly, helping one another as our mission statement states; ‘help one another, this is what we do with all our hearts…’.
Week on week, we see our children grow in confidence and they often don’t think twice about speaking in front the whole school during sharing assemblies and public events. We are regularly inundated with volunteers to read at church.
Our children leave our school confident readers and very able public speakers.
Very often our children progress to being Head boy & Head Girl of the local secondary schools.
Every child is given the opportunity to shine at St. Cuthbert’s!
Weekly Buddy Reading
The children have a buddy from the opposite class.
As a whole school, we get together, on a weekly basis and in partners we share our books and spend some qaulity time reading to our friend.
This is a very special part of our week.
The children love getting together and reading to one another.
The older children model good reading behaviours and are able to help the younger children to decode and segment words when needed…
Every year we enjoy celebrating World Book day.
The children and staff love dressing up as their most loved character and sharing their favourite book with friends. This year, the staff all shared their earliest memories of books as a child. Mrs Bone loved to read the Narnia, Miss Brownsord loved to read Harry Potter, escaping to Hogwarts whenever she could and Mrs Murray enjoyed The Magic Faraway tree.
Of course as important as World Book Day is; we celebrate reading every day at St. Cuthbert’s.
In our weekly ‘Golden Book’ Assembly, we celebrate the children who have read 5 or more times in a week.
Children love being given a Head teachers Award and the opportunity to feature on our ‘Weekly Star Reader’ display.
We also have a special folder full of our own book reviews - just in case anyone is struggling what to read next.
How great do all the children look dressed as their favourite characters on World Book Day 2023?
Mrs Bone during our World Book Day assembly sharing her early memories of reading.
