Reading is fundamental to education at Gunthorpe Primary School.

Our vision at Gunthorpe Primary is that all pupils quickly become confident, fluent readers.

At school, we will support your child by reading to and with them regularly. Our expectation is that children read every day. This may include listening to your child read, sharing a book together or your child listening to you read. Children that see their parents/carers reading, and enjoying it, are much more likely to want to read themselves, and studies show that students who read for pleasure often demonstrate increased performance in the classroom. We have found that ten minutes a day of one-to-one reading with an adult at home can make a positive difference to your child.

Reading in EYFS and KS1

As a school we follow the Little Wandle scheme throughout Foundation and Key Stage 1.

At Gunthorpe Primary school and through the Little Wandle programme, children will learn to read with confidence, fluency and understanding, providing them with the skills required to achieve a lifetime of enjoyment through reading.

Reading in KS2

Most children in KS2 will move onto the Accelerated Reader Scheme. This scheme works on reading age, so the books will match the child’s reading ability. We have a huge variety of books (including fiction and non-fiction) across all the levels which children can choose from. In this scheme, there is a book quiz linked to each book so that once the children have read their book they can take a book quiz.

If your child is a developing reader and in KS2 they will receive a KS2 phonically decodable book suitable to their level.

The children will complete the quizzes in school, and we ask that children in KS2 bring their reading book into school daily, so that they can continue reading the same text in school.

Ways to support your child:

• Read a wide range of texts regularly with your child at home and question them on what has been read – this will help to increase their reading speed and vocabulary knowledge.
• Read a range of texts – you don’t have to be limited to written stories, try listening to audiobooks in the car or at bedtime, or read newspapers aimed at children, like ‘First News.’
• Visit the local library! This will help children to build a love for reading, choosing books they are interested in, and discussing books they have and have not enjoyed.