At Ash Grove we strive to create a reading culture that teaches our children about the many joys of books. We aim to create a love of reading in all our children so that they not only learn how to read but use reading to further their learning in other subjects. We also understand that reading is a tool to develop socially, emotionally, and culturally and teachers choose high quality books that engage, inspire and provide a wealth of vocabulary for our children.
We provide our children with daily opportunities to read and, importantly, to be read too. These books are taken from The Power of Reading and core book lists. Each classroom has its own book area with a range of genres for children to access. We also have an inviting school library and excellent links with the local library.
We understand the importance of teaching children to read quickly through phonics and we use the Read Write Inc programme. Alongside this, home reader books are sent each week that carefully match the child’s phonic knowledge so that they experience success as a reader from a young age. As children progress, they also have access to other banded books, including Oxford Reading Tree.
In KS2, children have a daily guided reading session that focusses on teaching children key comprehension skills. Collins Big Cat books are used for these and banded books, from a range of schemes are sent home weekly. We celebrate home reading every half term with a letter home to recognise the efforts of regular reading.
It is our intention to teach children how to be lifelong readers who can read fluently, accurately and with confidence.
