Reading

Reading is an integral part of being an Ark John Keats pupil. At our school, all pupils enjoy reading and all pupils read every day. Pupils are confident reading texts of all kinds, from multiple genres and time periods. They have the skills to tackle complex and unfamiliar reading material and relish the challenge this brings. Pupils are confident reading aloud and know the value of their own voice in telling a story. They are also confident reading independently, and can navigate narrative and non-narrative texts to support their learning and personal development. The written word is the primary currency of ideas, and pupils are actively supported in their journey as readers to allow them to access, engage with and add to the very best of what has been thought and said.

Early reading and phonics
Children start their reading journey with us following Read Write Inc, an excellent programme based on "synthetic phonics": that is, children learn what combinations of letters make all the different sounds in English, how to blend these sounds to make words, and how to decode words when they see these combinations.

Primary reading
Following on from phonics, we follow a cyclical ten-day approach: for 45-60 minutes each day, children focus on one text and build familiarity with the new vocabulary within it, which helps them improve overall comprehension and the ability to answer literal and inference questions.

We provide our children with a balanced reading diet comprising of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and classics. We choose texts carefully to draw on our literary heritage, and to entertain and inspire. These texts, set out in our Book Spine and Curriculum Maps, are explored in our timetabled Reading lessons, Literacy lessons or shared as Class Books.

We provide books from the Reading Roadmap (a scheme of dedicated, age-appropriate book titles for years 3/4 and years 5/6) for children to take home and read. We are also in the process of raising funds to create a brand new primary library!