23rd March 2024Reading for Pleasure
‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.’ (OECD 2002)
Developing the ability to read fluently is clearly key to children’s academic success in all areas. However, reading also has a considerable impact on a child's well-being. Reading can be an escapism for children, allowing them to relax and take a break from the world, whilst also providing opportunities to learn about emotional and social consequences through stories. Reading helps children to develop empathy with others, by allowing them to identify with characters whose stories and experiences may differ from their own. It exposes them to language that they may not otherwise hear and expands their knowledge of the world around them. With this in mind, we have ensured that reading for pleasure is at the heart of our English curriculum. Our pupils read for pleasure daily through independent reading, time spent in their class book corner and through dedicated story times. Reading aloud is a key part of Reading for Pleasure at HWPS. Class teachers prioritise Reading for Pleasure within their timetables. Children are read aloud to every day in every classroom. These sessions are often some of the most special moments of the day, when the whole class come together to become immersed in the events and characters that their teachers bring to life.
Different year groups regularly come together to take part in shared reading, where the pupils self-select a text that they wish to share with their peers. All members of our school community enjoy discussing texts, authors and genres with one another. Book talk fills our school’s day, enabling us to make links to the world around us whilst developing our vocabulary further. The book talk surrounding our texts, exposes our children to a language rich environment, in which vocabulary is celebrated. Language acquisition and the understanding of this enables our pupils to read with enjoyment, purpose and understanding. The power of an adult role model cannot be underestimated and at HWPS staff role model the value of reading through pleasure. This is done through both formal and informal conversations with children, newsletter articles and displays in the school.
At HWPS we have carefully selected a range of ‘Core Books’ for each year group. that we want all the children to know and love during their time with us. These books represent a range of traditional and modern stories set both in the UK and around the world, as well as a wide range of poetry and non-fiction texts. We have included a range of classics, modern favourites and books children ‘might not know’. These core books are chosen to provide a rich, immersive experience and will be read aloud by the teacher during the year. In all year groups, the books are kept in a special place that the children can access during independent reading time. In Early Years and Key Stage One, we aim for children to begin to know these books by heart and have them available to ‘read’ aloud to each other during continuous provision (EYFS) or guided reading/reading for pleasure time (KS1). In KS2 these books are available for children to borrow and read independently, once they have been read aloud to them. The teacher will know these books well and be able to make recommendations around them.
