Reading at Hillstone

Our aim is for children to leave Hillstone as fluent readers with good comprehension skills and a love of reading. We know that reading is crucial for allowing our pupils to access and enjoy a wide range of opportunities in school and in life, but of course, we also focus on the sheer joy of reading and the inherent pleasures it brings. In fact, these two areas are connected: we value reading highly and constantly expose children to quality texts, thus helping them have positive attitudes about reading.

Reading in EYFS

We build a real love of the written word in our youngest children by reading a wide range of quality stories to them regularly and teaching them rhymes and songs. Some books will be integral to the learning we are focusing on – a picture book can offer a great way for younger children to learn about all sorts of important concepts and knowledge. Other books they enjoy will come from our reading spine, where we have specified books we guarantee our children will have read to them – these are books that will be re-read several times with the teacher having planned a deliberate learning opportunity along the way. This allows them to become really familiar with these books, such that they can join in with parts of them and anticipate events. It also helps them start to be able to talk about which books they prefer, and perhaps why.

A love for books and an understanding of how to handle them are both crucial foundations to put in place before children start to learn to read words and sentences themselves. Another crucial focus is speaking and listening – developing skills in these areas is so important in allowing children to access a range of other learning opportunities.

In Nursery, your child will be introduced to letters and the sounds they make, using the excellent Read Write Inc. Phonics scheme. This learning continues into Reception, where your child will benefit from working in a small group with other children of a similar ability. For more information on this scheme, please do talk to your child’s class teacher or visit the website: RW Inc for parents guide.

At home

We value the role that you play in this by sharing stories and books at home, perhaps as part of their daily routine – many families find that books before bed works well. We model how books should be handled carefully and correctly, including how to hold them and how to turn the pages. Please do let them practise this at home too. 

Your child will bring home library books throughout EYFS for you to share with them. Generally, these will be books they cannot read themselves, so we would love you to read to them and talk about them together. 

There will also then be books for them to read to you once they are ready – but the very first ones of these that you receive may be wordless and this is deliberate! We’ll tell you more about this when it is time. 

When they bring home a small, soft-cover RW Inc book, this is their chance to show you what they have been practising at school. It is a book they have already read a few times, but reading it again at home is great for their fluency and confidence. 

To help value positive attitudes to reading and books, and recognise the importance of reading regularly at home, class teachers select a several Reception children to win a prize from our reading vending machine. 

Reading in KS1

Children continue to learn to read via daily RW Inc Phonics in small groups. These sessions allow them to gradually read more complex texts as well as developing their comprehension skills.

When they have completed the phonics programme, they will have daily English lessons which offer a careful mix of reading and writing and continue using many of the activities and approaches that the children are familiar with.

Once a week, they will also have a reading lesson with their whole class, which is a time to really develop a range of other reading skills and to share a text linked to their current topic.

Daily, children are read to by their class teacher and have time to read a book independently. 

At home

Your child will bring home a library book – sometimes this will be a book they can read themselves, but often it will be one that they would love you to read to them.

Whilst your child is learning to read via RW Inc, they will bring home soft-covered RW Inc books to read to you. These are texts they have read and practised in school, but reading them to you at home is super for their confidence and fluency – and it shows you what they are capable of. Once they have completed the RW Inc program, our KS1 children then move onto bringing home a book from the relevant stage of the excellent Oxford Reading Tree scheme. We do have dedicated time in school to read their reading book, but we do expect children to read at home at least three times a week.

To help value positive attitudes to reading books, and recognise the importance of reading regularly at home, class teachers select a few children each half-term to win a prize from our reading vending machine. 

Reading in KS2

Most children move into KS2 having completed the RW Inc phonics program, but some children may benefit from additional phonics-focused sessions and we, of course, provide these.

Having said that, all children continue to use and apply their phonics knowledge when reading. Reading is taught several times a week in classes, using a range of engaging and appropriate texts. Our reading spines detail the exact texts we use. The lessons follow a carefully thought-out structure, which uses a range of activities to promote a love of reading, develop reading fluency and build comprehension. 

Some children require additional help with reading fluency; this is provided both via targeted work within reading lessons and independent reading sessions, but also via extra practice during the school day. 

At home

Children will bring home an independent reading book. Although we do dedicate time in school to reading these, we do expect children to read them at home as well, please. As a minimum, we ask for 3 reading sessions of ten minutes a week, but more would be great!

All of our books for home reading are levelled. Teachers advise children on a range of book levels to choose from, taking into account their knowledge of the child’s reading ability and end-of-year expectations. However, there are lots of things that can make a book seem easier – or harder – for a child, other than just the level it is given. For instance, a longer book or one set in a place they have little knowledge of can feel harder than a shorter book based on something they know well (such as friends and school). Below, you can see the minimum book level we would want a child to be able to read fluently at the end of a given academic year to be classed as working at the age-expected level:

Year 3: 3.5
Year 4: 4.2
Year 5: 5.1
Year 6: 5.9