Reading is not only an essential life skill which impacts attainment in an educational setting, it can have a profound impact on a person's mental health, confidence and employability.
Hurstmere School is committed to making sure that all of our pupils become proficient, confident readers. The Early Years Settings and Primary School play an important role in teaching pupils how to read and decode. This is the beginning of understanding and enjoyment. However, pupils need to continue to build fluency, make meaning and strengthen their enjoyment of reading throughout their time at Secondary School.
There are a number of ways Hurstmere supports your child with this:
Reading Ages
Reading ages are used firstly to inform classroom teachers on the reading ability of their classroom. This allows teachers to plan lessons, scaffold resources and model accordingly to the needs of the pupil in the classroom. High quality teaching is one of the most effective ways in school to support pupils in their reading and the comprehension of what they are reading.
Knowledge Organisers
A tool designed to clarify information, summarise and streamline the key facts of a particular subject. Knowledge Organisers are provided for all subjects and for all units. Your child will have access to a knowledge organiser in every lesson and for every homework. They are essential revision tools for Knowledge Tests, Key Pieces, Pre-Public Examinations and GCSEs.
DEAL
Drop Everything And Listen. This is Hurstmere's scheduled literacy activity which takes place once a week during tutor time. The purpose is to encourage a passion and an appreciation of literature. In tutor time, the form tutor and the tutor group collectively read a common text over the course of the academic year. This allows your child to develop their 8 essential skills for reading success.
Accelerated Reader
AR is a computer programme that helps teachers manage and monitor your child's independent reading practice. Your child picks a book at their own level and reads it at their own pace. When finished, your child takes a short quiz on the computer - passing the quiz is an indication that your child has understood what has been read. AR gives both children and teachers feedback based on the quiz results which the teacher then uses to help the child set targets and ongoing reading practice.
Bedrock
A programme designed to teach a range of new vocabulary through a variety of non-fiction lessons and tasks. Through learning and acquiring new words, your child will be able to unlock a wider range of texts. You may wish to visit the below website for further information:
8 Essential Skills for Reading Success
We believe there are 8 essential skills for success in reading:
Decoding
The ability to sound out words you have not read before. This forms the basis of other reading skills. Decoding is dependent on the language skills of phonemic awareness; this is a child's ability to hear and manipulate sounds into different words. This ability is established when a child learns about syllables, words and sounds (phonemes).
Phonics
Recognising the sounds of letters (graphemes) and making connections between them. This method maps the sounds (phonemes) into written words. Children decode the words into sounds and then blend the sounds into the written words they write down and spell.
Vocabulary
The ability to understand the meaning of words. This is important when looking at the definition of words and their context. The more words a child knows, the better they are at reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Fluency
The ability to read words correctly, at an appropriate speed and with correct stress and tone. This skill is needed for good reading comprehension.
Sentence Construction and Cohesion
The understanding of how sentences are structured to create meaning. This is crucial for reading comprehension.
Reading Comprehension
The ability to understand the meaning of the text; in story books and in information books. It can allow children to imagine characters, become emotionally attached to the story, or it can allow them to gain knowledge and further their understand of a subject matter. This skill requires time, patience and practice.
Reasoning and Background Knowledge
This skill allows children to apply contextual knowledge in order to make inferences and draw conclusions.
Working Memory and Retention
Working memory is the ability to process information in a short amount of time; for example, when reading a long sentence. Retention is the ability to remember, process and interpret what has been read.
Reading Techniques
There are 4 main types of reading techniques:
Skimming
This technique allows the reader to go through the written text to understand the main idea. They do not read every word, but they do focus on the main theme or the basis of the text.
Scanning
This technique allows the reader to swiftly scan across sentences in order to find a specific piece of information. The reader can choose to reject or overlook irrelevant information.
Intensive Reading
This technique requires the readers full concentration and focus to detail. The reader will deconstruct the text to understand the meaning of every word. It is important when looking at the accuracy of comprehension.
Extensive Reading
This technique focuses on fluency rather than accuracy. This style of reading is typically associated with reading for pleasure.
Reading for Pleasure
The Reading Agency commissioned a review that looked into the link between reading for pleasure and empowerment. Reading for pleasure was found to impact in all of the below areas:
- Dedicated time – identify a few minutes a day to create a reading habit.
- Read yourself – show that reading for pleasure is for adults as well.
- Read to each other – reading together not only allows you to spend quality time together, you can develop their confidence of reading aloud (fluency) question them about what they have read and get them to predict what will happen next (comprehension). Reading to a younger sibling will support both children with their reading ability.
- All reading is good reading – all reading is important for a child’s progression. Whether it is non-fiction, a comic, a football programme or a cookbook. All reading contributes to reading comprehension. They key is to vary genres and authors to encounter new vocabulary.
- Set a challenge – can they read 3 books in one month? Can they read a book from six different genres? Can you read for 20 minutes without looking at your phone? Can you learn the meaning of 1 new word per week?
- Audiobooks – audiobooks are a great way to introduce a book above your child's reading level. Listening to a story over and over again can improve vocabulary and encourage deeper comprehension of future texts.
- Film Vs Book – use your child’s favourite films to engage them in reading. Knowing the characters and storyline can be a helpful bridge into reading a longer story. Discussions can then take place around the differences between the film and book and which one was better.
- Book club – find out about book clubs in school and in your local area; the library is a great place to start with our local libraries offering groups such as chatterbooks and book worms.