Reading

The Importance of Reading 

There can be few things as powerful as regularly reading to a young child. It has astonishing benefits for children: comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, relaxation, happiness and fun. Giving a child time and full attention when reading them a story tells them they matter. It builds self-esteem, vocabulary and feeds imagination.

Our love of reading at Brierley

We believe that reading is at the centre of our learning. We base our reading on well-known authors and children are given the time to immerse themselves in stories. D.E.A.R. sessions where children 'Drop Everything And Read' are one way in which our children develop their pleasure in reading and sharing a wide range of texts.

We ensure that early language development is key to opening up a whole new world of vocabulary, provide age-appropriate phonics provision and promote a love of reading by immersing children in books and bringing reading to life.

There is no friend as loyal as a book. – Ernest Hemingway

 

Reading Areas

Our organised library and corridor space have established comfortable, accessible places for relaxing with a lovely book for all children. 

Our Love of Reading in our newly arranged Reading Lodge!

Reading Curriculum Pathway

How we teach children to read.

The Reading Curriculum Pathway identifies the core texts that are studied in each year group throughout the year. With reading being an important part of our curriculum and an integral part of all of our lessons, we ensure we use a structured approach to it. Our reading sessions, which we call 'Book Club', are based around the 'reading to learn' approach (above) with age appropriate questions and opportunities for discussion. 

We teach reading through: 

• Phonics and Early Reading
• Reading for Fluency
• Reading for Pleasure
• Independent Reading
• Whole Class Reading 'Book Club'/Echo Reading
• Comprehension and vocabulary lessons 

Accelerated Reader Programme 

Once children have successfully completed the RWI scheme and are achieving Age Expected reading levels, they will be base lined using the Accelerated Reader programme. This baseline will ensure that each child is given a book that is specific to their level of reading and understanding. Accelerated Reader will also assess reading ages so that this can be closely monitored throughout school.

 

Class Book Choices

Each year group will have a minimum 3 main books each academic year, supplemented and enhanced by other text types such as poetry and non-fiction. Children will read widely and for pleasure immersing themselves in different authors and text types throughout the year. Children also have the opportunity to explore a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts in their foundation lessons, which are based around age appropriate texts linked to the topic previsouly studied to ensure children are recapping knowledge they have already been taught. 

For 2025-26 our reading book list so far includes:

FS2 -  Can't you sleep Little Bear?, The Lion Inside, Peace at Last, Rainbow Fish, Squirrels That Squabbled, Duck in a Truck, Wheels on the Tuk Tuk, Follow the track all the way back, Lost and Found, Penguins 

Year 1 - The Tale of the Naughty Little Rabbit, The Tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Five Minutes Peace, Ruby's Worreis, The Last Stop on Market Street, Brave, The Storm Whale, Dogger, Stick Man 

Year 2 - The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, Perfectly Norman, Strange, The Bear and the Piano, My Must Have Mum, The Friendship Bench, Cops and Robbers, Meerkat Christmas, Where the Wild Things Are, One Snowy Night 

Year 3 - The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, 

Year 4 - Wizard of Once, The River, Iron Man 

Year 5 - The Nowehere Emporium, The Highway Man, Silent Music, The Snowman 

Year 6 - Great Expectations, The Arrival, Dule et Decorum est, A Monster Calls, A Monster Calls, Letters to Scrooge 

 

Monitoring and Assessment of Reading

During whole class reading (Book Club) we encourage children to orally talk through their answers and ensure it is the best they can give. We also acknowledge it is good for children to also be able to formally record an answer in upper KS2. Children can do this in a variety of different ways such as discussing the answer first with peers and/or an adult and then writing their best answer, working individually and then editing their answer accordingly after discussion or orally discussing 1 or 2 of the questions and writing down the others working individually.

Teachers read with children, hearing them read individually, in pairs or groups and discussing answers. Children are assessed based on National Curriculum expectations and how they are performing relating to the specific content domain. Vocabulary is taught at the begginning of each session, this is Tier 2 vocabulary selected from the text. Children are introduced to the word along with an image/video/sound to understand the meaning along with a short and clear definition. Children orally reherse these words along with the definition and actions to ensure they remember the meaning. 

RWI and Accelerated Reader assessments take place regularly to monitor the progress within each Key Stage.  Each term, classes will carry out formative assessment - NFER Tests – Years 3, 4 and 5. SATs will be taken in Year 2 and 6 on a half termly basis.

Formative assessment is ongoing throughout each lesson. It judges progress and enables the teacher to make flexible adaptations to their planned teaching.

Effective formative assessment, daily marking and feedback and adult interaction within lessons is firmly embedded into our approach to teaching and learning of reading. All children are supported to develop, progress and move their learning forward through support, questioning and feedback. Children demonstrate the impact this has on improving their learning through editing and response.  Reading is assessed by teachers who use Insight for their year groups to allocate a level for each child.

Reading Fluency

Ultimately, our goal of teaching reading is to enable children to comprehend written texts. To do this, pupils need to build both word reading and language comprehension skills. However, developing reading fluency can provide a crucial bridge between the two, continually supporting pupils’ progression from learning to read to reading to learn. The diagram below shows how reading fluency is defined: reading with accuracy (reading words correctly), automaticity (reading words at an appropriate speed without great effort) and prosody (appropriate stress and intonation).

Impact Statement

By the time children leave Brierley Primary School, they have a firm grasp of both spoken and written language, having cultivated a passion for literature through extensive reading for enjoyment. Brierley children read comfortably, fluently, and with a sound comprehension. They cultivate a habit of frequent and diverse reading for pleasure and information, recognising the impact of reading on their knowledge across various curriculum subjects and acknowledging it as a delightful form of entertainment.

Brierley children have an extensive vocabulary and the necessary skills to investigate and comprehend unfamiliar words. They are curious and motivated to learn new words, utilising their language skills and resources like dictionaries to continuously enhance their vocabulary as they progress to the next stage of their education.

Brierley children demonstrate a solid grasp of grammar and an understanding of linguistic conventions for reading, writing, and spoken language. Through our bespoke curriculum the learn about classic authors as well as new writers.

Brierley children express themselves clearly, precisely, and coherently, adapting their language and style to suit various contexts, purposes, and audiences. They engage effectively in discussions and debates, articulating their own thoughts and understanding while also actively listening to and respectfully responding to others.

Brierley children transition to the next phase of their education with the ability to communicate clearly and confidently in diverse situations. They read purposefully and fluently, prepared for the academic challenges of secondary school subjects. They write with a clear understanding of their purpose and audience.

Brierley children take pleasure in and find purpose in speaking, reading, and writing.

Our children will be able to: read fluently, retrieve, infer, predict, summarise, analyse and evaluate texts from a wide range of genres. By the time our children leave us at Year 6, they will be confident readers ready to move in to secondary school with skills to articulate what they have learnt and how they feel about a text.

Useful Websites for Parents and Carers

https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/ The National Literacy Trust

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zt3rkqt  BBC Bitesize English

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbxby9q BBC Bitesize Reading

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/reading-tips/ Book Trust

 

Other useful documents:

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/eef-blog-shining-a-spotlight-on-reading-fluency

 

 

 

10 top tips to encourage children to read

1. Encourage your child to read
Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too. Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages.

2. Read aloud regularly
Try to read to your child every day. It’s a special time to snuggle up and enjoy a story. Stories matter and children love re-reading them and poring over the pictures. Try adding funny voices to bring characters to life.

3. Encourage reading choice
Give children lots of opportunities to read different things in their own time - it doesn’t just have to be books. There’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, magazines, recipes and much more. Try leaving interesting reading material in different places around the home and see who picks it up.

4. Read together
Choose a favourite time to read together as a family and enjoy it. This might be everyone reading the same book together, reading different things at the same time, or getting your children to read to each other. This time spent reading together can be relaxing for all.

5. Create a comfortable environment
Make a calm, comfortable place for your family to relax and read independently - or together.

6. Make use of your local library
Libraries in England are able to open from 4 July, so visit them when you’re able to and explore all sorts of reading ideas. Local libraries also offer brilliant online materials, including audiobooks and ebooks to borrow. See Libraries Connected for more digital library services and resources.

7. Talk about books
This is a great way to make connections, develop understanding and make reading even more enjoyable. Start by discussing the front cover and talking about what it reveals and suggests the book could be about. Then talk about what you’ve been reading and share ideas. You could discuss something that happened that surprised you, or something new that you found out. You could talk about how the book makes you feel and whether it reminds you of anything.

8. Bring reading to life
You could try cooking a recipe you’ve read together. Would you recommend it to a friend? Alternatively, play a game where you pretend to be the characters in a book, or discuss an interesting article you’ve read.

9. Make reading active
Play games that involve making connections between pictures, objects and words, such as reading about an object and finding similar things in your home. You could organise treasure hunts related to what you’re reading. Try creating your child’s very own book by using photos from your day and adding captions.

10. Engage your child in reading in a way that suits them
You know your child best and you’ll know the best times for your child to read. If they have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) then short, creative activities may be the way to get them most interested. If English is an additional language, encourage reading in a child’s first language, as well as in English. What matters most is that they enjoy it.

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