Reading
Reading
Reading is fundamental to children’s education and we endeavour to promote enjoyment of reading 
alongside skills including word reading, fluency and comprehension. Every classroom has a class library with a wide range of age appropriate texts. Children are supported and encouraged to select their own reading books, to read and enjoy the texts and share recommendations with their peers. 
We have also invested in high quality fiction and non-fiction books linked to other areas of the curriculum to support the children’s learning.
Phonics
In daily phonic lessons, Children in EYFS and KS1 are taught the sounds and corresponding letters in words to enable them to blend sounds together and read unfamiliar words. As their abilities and confidence grows, they begin to read familiar words ‘at a glance’, no longer needing to consciously say each sound. They also learn to read ‘tricky words’ which do not match the sounds and corresponding letters the children have learned. These daily phonics sessions conclude when the children are confident, fluent and skilful readers and writers.
Phonics Guidance for Great Wood
Phonics Screening Check Information
Home Reading
Frequent reading at home takes high priority at Great Wood. We encourage children in every year group to read every night. Not only does it help to promote a love of reading, it also helps to develop children’s fluency, vocabulary, general knowledge and writing skills.
In KS1 children take home reading books that align with their learning in phonics sessions and are fully decodable at each phonics phase. We use a wide range of reading schemes to ensure breadth and depth in the early stages of reading, including: Big Cat Phonics, Oxford Reading Tree and Phonics Bug (Pearson). The pace each child moves through our reading scheme is monitored carefully. As the children become more fluent decoders, new vocabulary is introduced alongside different sentence structures as they move on to colour band books starting from Turquoise. Questions enable the children to develop comprehension as their decoding fluency grows.
When children demonstrate fluent and confident reading, they move on to Rainbow Reading. This offers a scaffolded transition from scheme books to free choice and ensures the children are provided with support to choose their own books. By ensuring a mixed diet of fiction and non-fiction texts, Rainbow Reading helps children to broaden their tastes. Reading achievements are recognised in the form of certificates at each level and the aim is for children to have a book on the go and have another in mind to read next.