Reading

Reading Lessons

Once children at Willow Green have completed the Read, Write Inc. scheme of learning they transition to daily reading sessions. Our daily, reading lessons are split into two parts. The first part focuses on improving children’s reading skills and will focus on improving prosody, fluency and expression. The second part of the lesson focuses on teaching comprehension skills. Teachers will explicitly model the skills being taught and then all children will be given a task to ensure children are able to demonstrate their independent skills.

Reading for Pleasure

At Willow Green Academy, we pride ourselves in celebrating a love of reading throughout school from the moment the pupils arrive until the moment they leave. We encourage pupils to develop a love of reading so that they become life-long readers. It is our aim to ensure that pupils become fluent readers as early as possible. Our intent is that no child should leave our school without being able to read. We recognise how crucial this is for pupils to be able to access all areas of the curriculum.

Each class has an allocated library time and all children are able to access the library every lunchtime to enable children to immerse themselves in quality texts. There are inviting reading areas situated throughout the academy where children may sit and read for pleasure in their own time.

We want the pupils to develop a love of reading. This is encouraged through the use of classroom reading areas which include our top 30 reads for each year group, our school library and high quality classroom texts.

We ensure all of our pupils read widely and often, with fluency and comprehension appropriate to their age. Furthermore, we arrange engaging experiences such as weekly library visits, book fayres and Stay and Read sessions to expose the pupils to the joy that reading can bring. This aims to involve and inspire the community with developing a love of reading. Furthermore, books are strategically placed in classrooms and in corridors that allow children to further their knowledge on subjects that may interest them.

Home Reading

All children also have access to the home-reading books at an appropriate level in order to ensure that all pupils have an appropriate text to help develop their reading fluency. Reading is tracked via reading records and is monitored regularly by the class teacher.

Story Time

A strategic approach to story time is being embedded across the Academy. All pupils in the academy enjoy listening to an age appropriate story every day. Each classroom is transformed in to an inviting environment where the pupils are able to lose themselves in the imaginary world inspired by the story telling experience.