At Coxheath Primary School, reading is at the very heart of the curriculum. Reading improves language and vocabulary, inspires imagination and gives everyone the opportunity to develop and foster new interests. We have many exciting plans underway to ensure we are a community of readers, with reading for pleasure at the centre of our curriculum.  We are transforming our library with the new ‘Reading Bus’ and updating the children's home reading books in class book corners over the coming terms.

Every child is taught a range of strategies to support their development to become a confident, independent reader. In EYFS and Key Stage 1, Phonics is taught through ‘Sounds-Write’ on a daily basis, which enables the children to recognise sounds and to segment and decode words. Once the children have learnt how to read, they can then learn to comprehend and understand the text they are reading. Texts are engaging and provide them with the opportunity to practise their phonic sounds. Children are encouraged to use these strategies independently to understand, enjoy and learn from a range of texts. Through this, they will become fluent, expressive readers with the stamina to enjoy challenging texts. In Key Stage 2, the teaching of reading continues with whole class reading sessions. The children are exposed to a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. During whole class reading sessions in Key Stage 2, the children continue to practice their reading fluency skills through a range of procedural fluency strategies such as Echo Reading, Choral Reading, Paired Reading and Snake Reading. Book discussion is widely encouraged in class, which supports them to empathise with characters, share opinions and debate topics.

The children at Coxheath have independent access to a wide variety of high quality texts in dedicated and well-organised class book corners. New, quality books are added to all book corners throughout the year, which reflect the children’s interests. All teachers use quality texts in all aspects of their teaching across the curriculum and provide opportunities that extend and enrich the children’s learning. Story time is a priority at Coxheath and all classes have a dedicated story time session once a day. This is where the teacher reads a class book to the children that the children may not access independently. The books teachers read to the children for enjoyment are carefully selected to ensure a wide and varied coverage during their time at Coxheath Primary School that cover some relevant current topics at an age-appropriate level. Years 2 - 6 will have between 4 and 6 books read to them over the year as these are longer chapter books. Year R and 1 will have a different book every week, which will be read to them daily so they can hear the story more than once. Please see the document below which has the coverage of books read to the children. In addition to story time, in year R and 1, they also have a daily singing/rhyme/poetry session. We are also lucky enough to have a good link with the library in Coxheath and all classes visit the library on a regular basis so they can take out books of interest. It is these tools and opportunities that we believe give our children the necessary skills to become thoughtful and confident readers for life, which helps them in everything they do.

We know that reading at home is an essential part of children becoming excellent readers and because of this, children have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books for home reading. As the children move into Key Stage Two, they should know all of their sounds and therefore be able to access any age appropriate book from the class book corner as their reading book and become a ‘Free Reader’. We realise that there will be children that are not ready for this and they will be provided with a banded reading book at a level they can access. All Key Stage Two classrooms have a selection of the banded books we used previously and children that we feel are not quite ready to be a Free Reader, will be able to choose a reading book from this smaller banded selection. This is the book your child should be reading at home to an adult. The children, who are provided with a banded reading book in Key Stage Two, may also bring home a book from their class book corner. This is a book they have chosen for enjoyment so it may be at a higher level than they can access independently and will need to be read with adult support or be read by the adult to the child. We want to continue to encourage all children to have a love of books and reading even if it is something they may need additional support with.   

Follow the link below to the Book Trust’s recommended books that your child may be interested to read.

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/great-books-guide/