Reading at St Oswald's
We think Reading is hugely important for your child's education. It is the basis for all education and there are clear links between children's reading ability, confidence and enthusiasm and their success in other curriculum areas. Our aim is for all children to develop a love of reading and confidence in decoding texts of incresing challenge as they go through the school. Reading is taught at St Oswald's through use of the Literacy Counts Scheme 'Ready Steady Comprehension', use alongside our Phonics scheme 'Rocket Phonics'.
We are relaunching our reading diaries with all the children in October and then will share this with the parents. As a school last year we had a huge push on reading for pleasure and completed extensive training through the Open University as a staff focusing on our own Pedagogy and how to promote 'Reading for Pleasure' at St Oswalds. We looked at widening our knowledge of children's texts and our knowledge of the children in our care as readers.
So how often should you be reading with your child?
Our answer to that is "As often as possible!" Our aim is that all parents are reading with their children every single night. That is why the new reading diaries have a section for each day of the week and an entire week on a page. We want to track how often children are reading as we know this impacts hugely on their progress in all areas. We believe that we should always aim as high as possible. As children get older you may read with them less as they choose to read independently but you can still keep those shared reading experiences going until your child leaves primary school.
Recommended book lists for each Year Group
The documents below are lists of suitable and recommended books for each year group. They make great ideas for Christmas and Birthday presents as well as a go to resources if your child is just looking for something to read. They are also a good starting opint if you are looking for a Birthday Book for your child to present to his/her class. The lists are not exhaustive - there are thousands of great books out there. They are also pitched at the average level for that year so if your child is a particularly avid and confident reader you may want to look at the year above. Alternatively you may like to look at the year below if your child is still developing their reading skills.