Reading

Our Intent

Our intent centres around the belief that reading is a fundamental skill that impacts every aspect of a child’s academic success, both now and in the future. At St Botolph’s, our aim is that every pupil should be a fluent, comprehending reader by the time they finish Key Stage 2.  We believe that this is achievable through strong, high-quality teaching that focuses on developing the essential characteristics of successful readers:

• Excellent phonic knowledge and skills
• Fluency and accuracy in reading across a wide range of contexts throughout the curriculum
• Knowledge of an extensive and rich vocabulary
• An excellent comprehension of texts
• The motivation to read for both study and for pleasure
• Extensive knowledge through have read a rich and varied range of texts.

At St Botolph’s we also strongly believe in children loving to read! We actively encourage reading for pleasure and recognise it as a core part of every child’s education, regardless of their background or attainment. We make reading a key part of our curriculum and expose pupils to a wide range of texts in a variety of different situations.

We take the view that extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts makes a vital contribution to every child’s educational achievement.

Reading for pleasure aims to establish each child as a lifetime reader. Studies emphasise the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational as well as personal development. They show that promoting reading can have a major impact on children, their future and their life chances.

Our curriculum will provide pupils with the opportunity to develop a firm grasp of the requisite skills, regardless of their starting point, leading to improved self-confidence and positive attitudes to learning.

Policies and Key Documents

Our Reading Scheme

Throughout our school, we use the Collins 'Big Cat' reading scheme. This scheme provides different genres, throughout the stages, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and classic novels. There is something for everyone!

The School Library 

Our school library has very recently been given a make over and now it is an organised, relaxing, informative place to be. 

Common Exception Words

Common exception words are everyday words that break the phonic rules taught at school. Whilst these words will always be part of each child’s common vocabulary, they will eventually cease to be ‘exception words’ when the child understands the rules behind their pronunciation and spelling.

Common exception words are important because they are just that: common. They are words that appear frequently in texts and that help readers understand what they are reading. To access even the simplest texts, children need to be able to read these word, and they will certainly want to use it in their own compositions.

At St Botolph’s these words are taught through our Read, Write Inc Phonics and Spelling sessions and during our English lessons, we highlight and pay attention to the words during texts that we are reading.

Below are the lists of common exception words that we expect the children to be able to read and spell, broken down into year groups.