Reading is a key focus for St. Helen’s. As a result we have chosen to share our reading approach here, alongside advice for parents on how to support children at home with reading. If you need any further information please speak to a member of the teaching team, Mrs Walker or Mr Robertson.

Our Reading Intention

Our aim for all children is simple:  enjoyment, confidence and competence in reading.  We teach phonic awareness (‘sounds’) as building blocks to support segmenting and blending, and hence the development of early reading skills.  We build on these skills by ensuring the children have a range of reading strategies to achieve the two dimensions of reading: word reading and comprehension. Reading for pleasure is a cornerstone of our school, and our pupils are encouraged to both read for pleasure and to read widely using high quality cross-curricular texts.

Guided Reading at St Helen’s Primary School

At our school, guided reading starts from Year Two and is a carefully structured part of our reading curriculum that develops fluent, thoughtful and confident readers. Our approach reflects the latest evidence-informed practice in reading instruction.

We believe that all children should experience high-quality texts, explicit teaching and meaningful discussion in order to become successful readers. Guided reading sessions are designed to help pupils develop both the mechanics of reading and a deep understanding of what they read.

Our Approach

Guided reading takes place regularly across the school and is planned to ensure progression in reading knowledge and comprehension. Lessons are carefully sequenced and include:

• Vocabulary development – exploring and discussing ambitious and unfamiliar words in context.
• Fluency practice – supporting children to read accurately, automatically and with expression.
• Close reading and discussion – encouraging pupils to think deeply about texts and justify their ideas using evidence.
• Explicit teaching of comprehension – modelling how skilled readers make meaning from a text.
• Exposure to high-quality literature – using a range of rich, engaging and challenging texts across fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Reading with Purpose

We recognise that comprehension depends on much more than answering questions. Children need secure word reading, broad vocabulary knowledge and opportunities to build background knowledge across the curriculum. Our guided reading lessons therefore place strong emphasis on:

• developing language and vocabulary;
• revisiting and embedding prior knowledge;
• reading aloud and modelling expert reading;
• ensuring texts are appropriately ambitious;
• fostering enjoyment and engagement in reading.

Supporting Every Reader

Teachers use ongoing assessment to ensure that support and challenge are carefully matched to pupils’ needs. Children who require additional support receive targeted practice to develop fluency and confidence, while all pupils are encouraged to discuss, reflect and think critically about what they read.

Creating Lifelong Readers

Above all, we aim to nurture a love of reading. Through carefully chosen texts and rich classroom discussion, we want every child to see themselves as a reader and to develop the knowledge, confidence and curiosity that reading brings.

Parents are given clear expectations about reading at home, which supports reading, writing and vocabulary, and we use drama to develop reading comprehension and provide stimulus.

School-home reading

We expect all pupils at St Helen’s School to have a regular reading routine.

• Children begin reading using appropriate phonics levelled books and they continue to move through the colour-banded scheme and can change their books when necessary. 
• Reading at home is recorded via WeRead and teachers monitor the comments to assess reading progress and to communicate with parents/carers about any issues raised whilst reading at home.
•  Once children complete the colour banded books they move onto ‘free reading’.
• Teachers are still monitoring your child’s reading at the ‘free reading’ stage and it is expected that regular comments will still be made in reading records.

When reading with your child at home remember to:

1. Make time to read- at least ten minutes a day

2. Choose different types of books

3. Take turns to read

4. Talk about the book- asking your child questions

5. Pay attention to the language

6. Enjoy reading

Teachers now monitor how many times a week the children read at home.

We are looking forward to welcoming our volunteers back into school to listen to readers! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the Office.

At St Helen’s we use Monster Phonics which is a fully-accredited synthetic phonics scheme

Access Monster Phonics – EYFS and KS1

Please read the Parent Letters carefully. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

We really appreciate your continued support.