Reading
What we do and why we do it
At Light Oaks Junior School, we believe that the teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding of all areas of the curriculum and also to the world around them. It sits at the heart of our curriculum and it is not only promoted as a pleasurable activity, which provides escapism and comfort to support children’s mental wellbeing, but it also provides the opportunity for them to open their minds to the lives, cultures and experiences of others.
We intend for every child to become a fluent, confident reader. We believe with the correct teaching and support that all children can achieve this, and we have a structured reading journey which is designed to develop pupils’ disciplinary and substantive knowledge, alongside an expectation that children read at home daily.
Our challenging curriculum develops children’s word-reading, fluency and language comprehension whilst at the same time instilling a love of reading which will last them a life time. The curriculum introduces pupils to a wide range of literature: classics, modern children’s literature, poetry, picture books, non-fiction, song lyrics, plays and more. This curriculum has also been carefully curated to ensure the texts give pupils a breadth of cultural knowledge in a wide range of topics. Children will learn about similarities and differences between communities; about protected characteristics and develop an understanding and tolerance of people from around the world through the texts they encounter, which build cultural capital across the curriculum. If you want to find out more about the Ashley Booth Curriculum - which is our starting point - and the rationale for its development, further information can be found at The Reading Booth.
We celebrate reading every day at Light Oaks Junior School and regularly hold events and initiatives to promote reading, these are often organised by our class librarians who have the responsibility to respectfully encourage their peers to read and promote a love of reading around our school. Some of these initiatives and events include:
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Parents
Reading is fundamental to children's learning, and we encourage children to read daily at home. Parents play a vital role in their child's attitude to reading, and we encourage all parents to read with their children and enjoy books together - yes even Year 6s! This blog explains why:
Reading aloud with older children.
There are lots of great websites to help parents support children's reading. They give great recommendations for books which will encourage children to become proficient and enthusiastic readers, and give useful advice for how, when and why to read with your child.
Sites we recommend are:
- School Reading List - book recommendations and advice
- The National Literacy Trust - parent advice and information
- The Department for Education has Advice for Parents
- The Reading Agency - gives lots of detailed recommendations which can be searched by age, type and topic. Check out their Reading Well for Children recommendations which support mental health and wellbeing.
- Love Reading4kids is a book recommendation site where you can browse by age, type and topic. You can also read extracts from the books - so you can try before you buy!
