At Westvale we truly believe that every child can learn to read and we aim to instil a love of language, literature, reading and writing for all children. The ability to communicate effectively is a key life skill and we place a strong emphasis on speaking and listening within our English curriculum. We visit the Shakespeare North Theatre to bring our texts to life and to enhance our speaking and listening skills.
Our chosen schemes of work for English are Read Write Inc phonics; Pathways to Read and Pathways to Write. English is taught for an hour each day with additional daily guided reading sessions. Phonics is taught daily for 45minutes in homogenous groups. Reception and KS 1 reading books are phonetically decodable and our Oxford Owl ebook subscription ensures children have access to the books they read in school at home also. Our KS 2 reading scheme is staged progressing to free readers.
We expect children to read a minimum of 4 times per week at home in Reception and KS 1 and at least 3 times per week in KS 2. Children who read the most times at home each term will be rewarded by a visit to Waterstones Book shop to purchase books for school.
We also recognise the importance of reading to children at home. The following sites can support this:
