Reading at St. Luke's is an integral part of our learning.

Starting with Phonics in Reception, children are taught in a practical way to sound out, write and blend. (There is a breakdown of the teaching of Phonics on the website; please see here for further details). This is applied though speaking activities, matching games and from Year 1 onwards in the form of weekly Guided Reading sessions.

We place a huge importance on children having the opportunity to read with an adult on a regular basis. We do this is a variety of ways:

• Priority readers
• 1:1 reading sessions across all year groups at least twice a week
• Weekly Guided Reading sessions (year 1 - year 6)
• Library sessions

In our weekly Guided Reading sessions, the children are split into small groups of around 5 or 6. These sessions last for around an hour and 20 minutes. During the session, children will read with an adult and the remaining groups will have activities differentiated according to the abilities of the children. These activities could involve Phonics, reading for enjoyment, using a dictionary, comprehension questions and many more exciting activities. During the adult led sessions, children will develop both their fluency and inference skills by reading and answering questions related to the text. This could be in the form of verbal questioning or written.

In addition to Guided Reading and comprehension sessions, reading is interwoven into our creative curriculum through all of our subjects. We believe this approach broadens children's understanding of the English language and widens their vocabulary. We have a rich library, exciting books corners and an excellent provision of books for children to take home. In Reception, reading books are changed three times a week. In years 1 - 6, children’s books are changed twice a week.

All pupils’ reading is resourced appropriately including visual aids and ICT. Boxes of banded reading resources are available to every class and children are encouraged to read books at their appropriate level. These can include phonetically de-codable books. We also use materials to support children with learning 'tricky' words and the segmenting and blending of new words and sounds. In KS2 we have a selection of Project X books which are a range of stories aimed at boys. These not only increase the enjoyment of reading but are designed to develop comprehension skills as children read through the text.

The children regularly self-assess their ability and understanding, ways in which they read and also how they develop their skills as 'self correctors.' Teachers also monitor children’s progress and attainment through termly assessments and regular book band assessments.  Support for parents is available through workshops and hand-outs.

Each term every class has a focus book for their Read 'n' Relax sessions. This enables the children to hear a range of stories and authors. It also allows children the opportunity to look at authors who are significant in our history or to the current topic.

Holiday and term time reading and writing challenges and competitions, are regularly sent home for the children to enter and we have had a number of successful competition winners over the last few years. We are lucky to have great links with ABC Reader and local schools within the community. We have a number of volunteers and pupils visiting the school on a weekly basis to read with individual children 1:1. 

Please do not hesitate to speak to your class teacher if you have any questions about reading at St. Luke's and/or how you can help your child at home.