Reading is at the heart and soul of our school. We love reading and we want every child to leave us not only being able to read but with a real passion for books. 

Reading underpins all areas of the curriculum and it is essential, to us, that children are taught the skills to move them from early readers to proficient readers, developing their love of the written word and extending their understanding of vocabulary.  

For us, at Parkhead Community Primary School, reading is not a subject that is simply taught at school. Learning to read is the one of the most important skills your child will learn at Parkhead. It is a skill that they will use in all aspects of life and is key to their success across the curriculum. Therefore, reading is given high priority and all children are helped to foster a genuine love of books.

All our classrooms are language and book rich environments, which support our children at every stage of reading and writing. Across school, children listen to daily stories to help them develop a love of reading and develop knowledge of authors and genres. These books are chosen from our core texts which ensure our children have access to a varied and engaging selection of high-quality texts. Some of these are studied in depth as an English unit of work and others are read for pleasure during whole class story time. These titles can be found on our year group pages.

Older children are taught to be reading buddies and listen to younger children read. We encourage parents to read with their child at home on a regular basis, which is monitored through the use of a home/school reading diary. Parents have access to workshops at different key stages, information via newsletters and are given documents which provide them with suggestions to use when reading at home.  

How is reading taught across school?

In EYFS and year 1 children are taught reading through the Read Write Inc scheme. More information about how this is taught can be found by clicking the Early Reading button below. 

Once the children have completed the Read Write Inc scheme they are taught reading skills in guided reading groups. These sessions continue to support the children’s decoding and sight vocabulary skills as well as developing their fluency and comprehension.

In Key Stage 2 children are taught reading in either small group guided reading sessions or whole class reading lessons, depending on their reading level. These sessions continue to develop children’s understanding of vocabulary and comprehension skills as well as promoting their love of reading. We also use Reading Plus in upper KS2 to develop the children’s reading fluency and comprehension. Further information about this can be found by clicking the Reading Plus button below.

Reading for Pleasure

As well as children having access to high quality texts tailored specifically to the children’s reading ability, we also give the children access to library books which they can choose, take home and share with their grown-ups. In EYFS, children have a lending library set up in the classroom so they can change their books each week.

In KS1 and 2 children choose books from the school library bus. This is also open to KS2 children at lunchtime so they can sit and read.