Reading

‘Every child a reader by 7.
All children will read fluently with confidence and enjoyment.’

Pupil Voice

Here are some views from pupils about Reading at St Columba's.

Intent

All children will read fluently with confidence and enjoyment.’

At St. Columba’s reading is at the centre of our curriculum. Our vision is to foster a lifelong love of reading amongst all of our pupils therefore providing them with the reading skills which will successfully allow them to access the breadth and richness of our curriculum and improve their communication and language skills.

Implementation

• Staff who are passionate, avid readers themselves.
• Whole Class Guided Reading lessons 4 times weekly.
• English lessons with a focus on reading high quality texts.
• Individual reading experiences for less fluent readers.
• Echo reading to individuals, focused groups and whole classes by an adult.
• Class Reading Walls to motivate, encourage and reward reading at home.
• Reading for Pleasure areas in every class.
• Exposure to Recommended Reads for every year group.
• Weekly Book Recommendations by staff and pupils.
• Weekly visits to both our KS1 and KS2 Libraries by all classes using our electronic library systems.
• Our Reading Ambassadors promote reading for pleasure across the school.
• Our Reading Ambassadors open, run and organise the libraries during break and lunch times.
• ‘Secret’ Reading Clubs once a week for reluctant readers.
• FS and KS1 story sessions with parents.
• World Book Day celebrated annually with a focus on reading.
• Scholastic Book Fair visits twice a year.
• Author visits
• Invite parents to ‘Share a story’ together in classes.
• Exposure to the Classics.
• Annual visit from M&M Theatrical Production linked to children’s narratives.

Impact

The children will:

• Be competent readers
• Foster a love of reading for life
• Recommend books to their peers
• Have a thirst for reading different genres
• Participate in discussions about books
• Know a variety of authors
• Most pupils will be working at or above age-related expectations. Pupils below age-related expectations will make a good level of progress from their starting point.

READING FOR PLEASURE

Reading for Pleasure is key to educational outcomes for all pupils. We know that academic attainment is of vital importance but the benefits of reading for pleasure go beyond this and stretch throughout a person’s life journey.

The research finds that reading for pleasure can result in:

• understanding responsibility
• Showing love at home and to others
• helping us to learn
• helping us feel comforted and loved
• building confidence
• expressing our ideas and ourselves
• improving understanding of ourselves, others and the world
• increasing empathy
• improving relationships with others
• reducing the symptoms of depression and dementia
• improving well-being

All teachers read for pleasure to their class every day for 15 minutes with a book from their recommended year group list. Here are what some children had to say about it - 

Year 2 - I like listening to my teacher read because she makes it more interesting.

Year 4 - My teacher has been reading Oliver and the Seadogs to us. I like Mr Cook reading because he can explain words we don't understand.

Year 6 - I love it when my teacher reads to us because she changes her voice for the characters and does sound effects too. 

Click on the link to find out ways reading for pleasure and sharing stories opens up our minds.

https://heartoftheschool.edublogs.org/2015/11/09/reading-for-pleasure-video/  

World Book Day 2023

For World Book Day this year, we came to school in our pyjamas and brought our favourite book to share with another class over some delicious hot chocolate. We had great fun listening to others read, drinking our hot chocolate and sharing our own stories!

Theatre Performance 

Every year, we are very fortunate to have a theatre company visit school to put on a show performing an extract from a classic book. This year, M & M Productions performed Alice in Wonderland for our children who were enthralled in the story right from when they first sat down in front of the set!

After the production, they invited Year 6 to take part in a special workshop learning about how the set works, costume changes, sound effects and many more aspects of the production.