At Holbrook we are aiming high with reading. We want children to become fluent, insightful readers who are excited by books and knowledgeable about authors, genres and great literature. Most of all, we want children to love reading.

A whole school approach

Every class at Holbrook has a book which they read together. This changes at least termly. These are the books we want children to know inside out and they represent a range of authors and genres with due thought given to diversity and inclusivity. This approach means that by the end of Key Stage Two, all children will have read and enjoyed a variety of high quality and challenging books. We read to and with our children every day and seek ways to encourage children in their journey to independent and enthusiastic readers. We teach the skills to help children become good readers in a mix of whole class and group reading sessions, with lots of one to one reading too when they are younger. We have a clear progression which sets out what provision is made for reading in each class.

Phonics

Early reading is taught using synthetic phonics using a systematic approach based on 'Letters and Sounds'. Pupils are taught the phonemes (sounds), how to blend the sounds all through the word for reading, and how to segment the sounds in order to write words. They are taught to use their phonic skills and knowledge as their first approach to reading, and we teach some useful, very common ‘tricky words’ too which don’t follow regular phonic patterns. Children in EYFS and KS1 have a fun and interactive twenty minute phonics lesson daily. Our progressive approach to teaching phonics is based on the Letters and Sounds programme which follows 6 phases, systematically building on the skills and knowledge of previous learning.

Reading fluency and comprehension

Reading is a multi-faceted skill. Our phonics approach enables children to make the best start with decoding and phonological awareness, leading to word recognition. The teaching of reading throughout school is designed to build on this, providing opportunities for children to learn and practise comprehension and fluency skills, using the National Curriculum as our framework. We use our ‘Super Seven Strategies’ for the explicit teaching of comprehension skills, with the aim of helping children become active, reflective readers.