At St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary, our aim is to instil a passion for reading and a confidence with words - written and spoken - in all our children.

Our Reading Journey

Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. 

We want your child to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.

'All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.'

National Curriculum 2014

Making a Strong Start using Read Write Inc.

Right from the beginning of Reception, we use Read Write Inc. Phonics which is a highly successful English programme created by Ruth Miskin. All Reading Teachers at St. Patrick’s' have receive training and support from Ruth Miskin Training, rated Outstanding by the Department for Education, to ensure we meet our aim for all children to become confident and enthusiastic readers.

The Read Write Inc. Phonics programme is carefully matched to the curriculum, giving every child at St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary the best chance of success.

Reception to Year 2 children are taught using Read Write Inc. Phonics as the main EYFS and KS1 early reading programme but it is also taught as an intervention for children in Years 3 and 4.

How can you support your child?

During the academic year, we hold regular parent workshops for early reading. We also have more information on the individual class pages.

Follow the link below to read out parent booklets for more information on RWI Phonics and how you can support your child at home

For further information and tutorials on how to support your child learning to read from Ruth Miskin, go to: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

English Lessons Using a text based approach

At St. Patrick’s' Catholic Primary, we have chosen to embed a love of reading into our daily English lessons through a text based approach to planning from Nursery through to Year 6.  We are committed to ensuring that all our children have the opportunity to engage with a rich range of quality texts so that they develop into engaged and informed readers and writers, who understand the relationship between reading and writing.

Each class will use a key book as a stimulus for teaching reading and writing through the use of high quality books and creative teaching approaches. Our children are immersed into the text through shared reading, ‘wow’ days, music, art, drama, discussion and role-play.

Reading aloud is a key part of both our English guided class reading sessions and our book talk sessions, and also reflects our wider commitment at St Patrick’s to reading aloud to our children every day.

Reading aloud enables all children to access quality texts but it also enables the teacher to model expressive and fluent reading to the children.

Guided Reading

Our whole class guided reading approach is informed by extensive research into comprehension strategy instruction, as recommended by the EEF. 

The aims of the sessions are to engage with texts, respond to them, talk about them and developing deeper understanding (comprehension).

Once children have completed RWI Phonics, they take part in daily whole class reading sessions, which focus on both word reading and comprehension strategies.

During the sessions, we focus on developing the key comprehension strategies through careful modelling and supported practice using the VIPERS model.

Home Reading

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” Emilie Buchwald 

Evidence strongly suggests that parents and the home environment are essential to the early teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading.

Key findings from the evidence include:

Parental involvement in a child’s literacy has been reported as a more powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education (Flouri and Buchanan, 2004 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006);

Children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and reading are valued (Baker and Scher, 2002 – cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006).

Reading Books Coming Home

Access to reading materials at the correct level is vital in setting children up to succeed in reading. Carefully matched reading books will be sent home for your children to read independently or read to you. 

They will know all of the sounds used in the text because they match the sounds in the books they are being taught in class. This means they will be able to read the text with fluency and confidence – like a storyteller. They will enjoy reading to someone else or to themselves.

This does not mean the text is too easy for them – it means they are reading at the correct level. We do not send texts home the children cannot read because we always want them to be set up to succeed in their reading.

EYFS and KS1

Read Write Inc. Book Bag Book – This book will be changed on a Wednesday by their group teacher and is matched to your child’s RWI group. Please have this book in school every day.

Colour Banded Book (Collins Big Cat, Oxford Reading Tree…) – This book is to share with your child and is an enrichment text designed to widen their reading experience. This book will be changed by their class teacher. Please have this book in school every day.

NB. In addition, your child in EYFS or KS1 may also have a school library book that they have selected.

KS2

Once your child has complete the Read Write Inc. Phonics

programme, they will no longer receive a RWI. Book Bag Book to take home. Instead, please see the provision below.

Colour Banded Book (Collins Big Cat, Oxford Reading Tree…) – This book is designed to build your child's fluency at an age appropriate level and to broaden their reading experience.  This book will be changed by their class teacher. Please have this book in school every day.

School Library Book - This book is to encourage your child to develop their own interest in books and is selected by your child. 

Book Bands Overview

Additional free reading e-books: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page