We all have busy lives and we understand that it can be difficult to find time to read with your children on a regular basis. It is important that families have time to play, relax, enjoy out of school activities and maintain a good and healthy routine. 

However, we also know that regular reading at home (both to your child and with your child) is essential in ensuring that your child has the best chance of making good progress and becoming a confident and fluent reader.

We expect all children to read 3 times a week for a minimum of 10 minutes each time.

For more able children one of these reads should be their school reading book. This is so we can monitor their progress and ensure that teaching is appropriate for their needs. 

To support families with reading at home we offer a variety of ideas, activities and resources.

eg

Reading together

Choose a favourite time to read together as a family and enjoy it. This might be everyone reading the same book together, reading different things at the same time, or getting your children to read to each other. This time spent reading together can be relaxing for all.

Give children lots of opportunities to read different things in their own time - it doesn’t just have to be books. There’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, magazines, recipes and much more. Try leaving books in different places around the home or car.

Read aloud regularly

Try to read to your child every day. It’s a special time to snuggle up and enjoy a story. Stories matter and children love re-reading them and talking about the pictures. Try adding funny voices to bring characters to life and make the story funny.

What to read?

We send books home that are 'phonetically decodable'. This means that most of the words can be read using the sounds that they have learnt within their phonics lessons at school. 

It is also likely that books will contain 'tricky words' - these are words that can't be decoded

As children's reading get better we move them through the book bands. We aim to ensure that all children are reading the age appropriate book colour but some children need extra practice to ensure that this is the case. 

To help with activities we send home 'Book Band Book Marks'. These are designed to give ideas and prompt to support parents with home reading.

OTHER RESOURCES

Reading at Home - Oxford Owl for Home

Book Trust