Reading
“The more you read, the more you know, the more that you learn, then more places you will go.”
Reading at Westlands
The wise words of Dr Seuss are perfect to describe how we view reading at Westlands.
From wordless books in Early Years through to epic adventure novels of Year 6, we promote a love of reading for every child every single school day.
We recognise the critical importance of reading to learning, understand that every lesson relies on the ability of children to read and embrace reading into our curriculum at every opportunity.
Daily Class Reading
Key to making good progress in reading at Westlands are our daily phonics and guided reading lessons making use of excellent books that link to our topics, furthering our children’s understanding and knowledge. This is the perfect opportunity for the whole class to share in an adventure, develop reading skills, understanding and a love of books.
At Westlands Primary School we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
Once the children have graduated from the Little Wandle phonics scheme, we utilise RIC skills as a teaching tool. In addition to developing their reading fluency, we begin to focus on developing children's understanding of the aspects of being a successful reader and how writers use a range of features for effect. Understanding how great writers can control how a reader feels, or what they picture in their mind, is really important for us, as writers ourselves. Language acquisition is also at the forefront when teaching reading.
Reading at Home
We believe that working with parents and supporting home reading is important to ensure that children make good progress with their reading. Year R & Year 1, Year 2 have access to phonics decodable books in order to support their tailored phonics journey. Children in KS2 will bring home a book from the book corner library that each classroom has, full of age appropriate books. We encourage parents to read with their parents as much as possible throughout the week.
The Magic of Reading
Finally, we continue the reading magic throughout the year with special occasions such as Book Banter, Extreme Reading, each term we have a Big Book Swap Shop and much more besides.
summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/
Use the Book Sorter to find the perfect book for you!
readingzone.com
Welcome to the Reading Zone where new books and old favourites are waiting for your attention.
schoolreadinglist.co.uk
Where all the best books can be found to inspire and engage every child.
The Recommended Reads for each year group can be found below: