Reading

At Whitemoor, reading is the key which unlocks the rest of our curriculum and we have planned a progressive curriculum which ensures every child's individual reading learning journey is catered for. We aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading. We do this by immersing the children in a literacy rich environment, where every classroom promotes a love of reading in all contexts, genres and subjects.

We are passionate about reading and children's access to books. We have a cosy library in addition to book areas in each classroom which always contain an up-to-date choice of reading material. This is supported by our school librarians who work alongside our staff to organise and replenish the stock. 

There are weekly shared story sessions for KS1 and KS2. All teachers read, entertain and thrill their classes with whole class reading on a daily basis. We also celebrate World Book Day every year with a variety of activities as well as events such as our book fair and book swaps to encourage children to enjoy reading at home as well as in school. Speaking and listening is incorporated into all lessons and teachers model high level vocabulary throughout all curriculum subjects.

Children excel in early reading through the use of the RWI  phonics programme from Reception to Year 2, which we stream to allow learning at the right level and pace for each child.

As children move into KS2, they become more independent readers. Children are taught reading skills through daily VIPERS sessions where there is a focus on Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising skills. Every class also has storytime throughout the week to ensure the children are immersed in a wide variety of high-quality, engaging texts and resources which motivate and inspire our young readers.

 

All our teaching staff are reading role models for the children by sharing their love of books and stories, whilst recommending reads suited to children's individual preferences. We also provide a wealth of enrichment opportunities, from taking part in the St. Austell Festival of Music and Speech each year to inviting authors to work with and inspire our young authors. This ensures that children benefit from access to positive role models from the local and wider locality.

 

At Whitemoor, our aims for reading are to ensure that all pupils: