Reading in The Beacon Infant and Nursery School
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Pupils are encouraged to become confident, enthusiastic, critical and independent
readers. They should be able to cope with print produced in a variety of forms and for
a variety of purposes and read for information, interest and enjoyment.
We use shared, guided and individual reading sessions to develop their reading
skills.
Children are provided with Yellow Daily Reading Records and with a reading book to
read at home, from our ‘book banded’ school reading books, at an appropriate level
for each child.
Children will have opportunities to use the ‘School Library’ and can take library books
home to share too.
We provide opportunities to visit our local ‘Town Library’ through the year.
In KS1 we provide extra support for targeted children by using the Better Reading
Partnership programme and Fischer Family Trust programme run by trained TA’s.
We promote ‘reading for pleasure’ and all staff read as many books as possible to
our children. We have a ‘Read Aloud Programme’ and we endeavour for our
children to hear as many books (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) as possible, during
their time in our school.
We have a number of volunteers who hear children read 1:1 across the school.
Children have individual passwords to use Pearson’s ‘Book Bug Interactive
Programme’ to read online.
We aim for pupils to be able to:
 understand the features of a book and how it works.
 use phonics as a first strategy to read new words.
 be able to read at least 300 words by sight.
 have an interest in words and their meanings.
 use a range of strategies which will help them to read with meaning, fluency, accuracy
and expression.
 answer questions confidently about the texts.
 use appropriate reading strategies to find and interpret information.
 reflect on their reading and offer a personal response to a wide range of texts.
 to understand how the format and language changes with different genre.
 to use inferential skills to find meaning beyond what is stated directly.
 to appreciate the tools of the writer and the techniques used to involve the reader in the
text and to use these strategies as a model for their own writing.
 to appreciate the work of individual authors, illustrators and publishers.
 to read for and with other children and adults in a variety of situations.
 to read silently with a specific focus for the reading.
 to use a range of resources, including classroom materials, the school and public
libraries for a range of reading materials.
 to use ICT based reference materials for information.
Early Years Foundation Stage
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Speaking and listening skills are vitally important as they underpin learning to read.
The Communication, Language and Literacy area of learning builds on the language
skills that children bring from home. Development of these skills is encouraged
through activities such as listening to stories and poems, joining in with rhymes and
songs, participating in drama and imaginative play, responding to simple instructions,
talking to accompany play etc.
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Knowledge about books is developed through activities such as retelling a story in
their own words, reading a big book with the teacher, re-reading favourite stories as
a group/class, listening to taped stories, guided reading etc.
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Children can take home books to share with parents and when a child is ready
he/she will embark on the school's book banded reading programme as well as a
library book to share.
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In Foundation Stage 1(our Nursery), phonics are introduced through games and
practical activities focussing on Phase 1 of the Letters and Sounds Programme. This
teaches oral segmenting and blending of familiar words. Phase 2 will be covered
when it is appropriate depending on each child’s progress. Foundation Stage 2 will
build on their knowledge and continue teaching through the phases 2 to 6, as is
appropriate.
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We offer high quality play activities which provide lots of opportunities to enrich
children’s language and opportunities to develop reading across the 6 areas of
learning.