Reading at School

Reading at School

At Grampound with Creed School we have set ourselves an important goal; to develop a real passion in our children for books and reading. We have a dedicated library space, which has been refurbished and improved to provide a calm and comfortable space to enjoy choosing, reading and enjoying books. Our PFA kindly donated books for the library last year which had a very positive impact upon our provision and this year we have enlisted the help of the library service to work on fine tuning our organisation and stocking with a variety of books that challenge, interest and inspire the whole school. We subscribe to the Library service, which allows us access to a huge range of books and literacy resources, as well as Library Van visits to school, where the adults and children can climb aboard and swap books to keep the library brimming with new and different supplies.

Our current reading approach includes 'Read, Write Inc.' which include phonics right through from Early Years to KS2 where appropriate, as well as banded books from a variety of schemes. In classes, we use guided reading and structured questioning techniques as well as comprehension tasks to help our children understand the finer aspects of texts covered.

In order to promote reading at home, we use Reading Karate; a reward based system which results in the children moving up through coloured ‘belts’ depending on how much they are reading for pleasure. We encourage parents and carers to become involved their children’s reading, not only by listening to them read but by perhaps sharing some of their favourite books from childhood with them too. By developing a shared interest between teachers, parents and children we are hoping to create a passion for reading in our children, whether it is through comics, Kindles, books, or even newspapers and we can achieve this by working together. At the end of the year, those children who have achieved the highest level band will also be awarded an extra prize.

As a school, we are working to create a book spine, to ensure that through guided reading and class reader that our children are introduced to a range of story types. These include (but are not limited to) archaic texts, texts with non-linear time sequences, texts with a complex narrator, texts with a complex or symbolic plots and resistant texts (texts which are deliberately written with ambiguity).

A number of new initiatives are also underway in the classrooms, creating cosy 'areas' and 'dens' where the children can sit quietly with a book or go and share a story with a friend.

This year, we are very lucky to have a number of volunteers who LOVE to share stories and talk about the books the children are currently reading, both as part of a reading scheme and for pleasure. We do not underestimate the support from our families in encouraging children to read at home and thank all the parents and carers who make time to listen to, read to or share a book with their children every day.

7 Areas for Reading