Information For Parents- Reading

How to help your child with reading at home

Your child will bring home a reading book that is closely matched to their current reading development. This means that, on the whole, the book will contain the specific phonics and words they have been learning at school.

Please support your child to read this book as independently as possible. It is a good idea for them to read the book more than once to help them practise fluency. If they get stuck help them to sound out the word, or tell them the word and make a note of the difficulty in the Reading Record comments section. Many books contain inside-cover guidance, which is designed to help you talk with your child about the book.

Your child will also bring home a library book. This book may contain phonics and words that your child has not yet been taught. Please support your child by reading this book to them, or sharing the reading together.

Please enjoy reading with your child and chat with them about the contents of the books they bring home. Your comments in the Reading Record help us to understand your child’s preferences, successes and challenges.

For further guidance on how you can help your child with reading at home please refer to our guidance booklet ‘Reading At Home’, attend one of our reading workshops or ask your child’s teacher.

Early Reading expectations

In line with the new Ofsted framework and Early Reading expectations, we have restructured our individual reading books in accordance with the phonics phase your child is currently working within. Your child will bring home a reading book that is closely matched to their current reading development.

The Early Reading expectations are that;

‘Pupils read books in school and at home that match the sounds they can sound-blend and that have few exception words. Pupils re-read books to build up fluency.’

‘Pupils do not read books at school or home that expect them to: guess words using pictures, context or repetitive refrains; learn words by sight without this being underpinned by sounds pupils know; decode words with sounds they have not been taught.’

Please support your child to read this book as independently as possible. It is a good idea for them to read the book more than once to help them practise fluency. If they find a word tricky, help them to sound out the word and model blending the sounds together, or tell them the word and make a note of the difficulty in the Reading Record comments section. Many books contain inside-cover guidance, which is designed to help you talk with your child about the book.

Your child will continue to bring home a library book. This book may contain phonics and words that your child has not yet been taught. Please support your child by reading this book to them or sharing the reading together. To support this restructure as a school we have invested heavily in reading books. If your child does not return the book after 3 attempts you will be asked to contribute £2.50 per book to go towards purchasing a new one.

Please enjoy reading with your child and talk with them about the contents of the books they bring home. Your comments in the Reading Record help us to understand your child’s preferences, successes and challenges. For further guidance on how you can help your child with reading at home, please ask your child’s teacher, check our school website or attend one of our reading workshops.

Parent Workshops

We run parent workshops and drop in sessions through out the school year. Make sure you check out the newsletter and twitter feeds for more information.

We also publish the notes and slides from all our parent workshops here if parents are unable to attend.

Updated November 2019

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