“Reading is the one ability that, once set in motion, has the ability to feed itself, grow exponentially and provide a base from which possibilities are limitless.”

Michael Morpurgo

Reading is a skill that most of us take for granted, yet is one that is essential for being able to get on in life. As a child grows up, being able to read well not only enables them to discover new facts and to learn at school, but also opens them up to a world of new ideas, stories and opportunities. As research shows children who read for pleasure will achieve more than those that don’t in later life. All our staff are committed to ensuring that all children become independent and fluent readers during their time at our school. We want our children to enjoy books as much as we do!

How do we promote a love of reading?

• We read to our children every day during class story time. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at Fairisle Junior School and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.

• Every classroom has an inviting Reading Corner that encourages a love for reading. The children designed their Reading Corners with their class teacher and purchased books that they wanted to read. Teachers share these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books. The Reading Corner is used regularly by all children throughout the week.

• Our children have a home reading record. The parent/carer records comments to share with the adults in school and the adults write in this on a regular basis to ensure communication between home and school.
• Children who are in the early stages of reading have a text to read at home to practise their decoding and fluency.  This text also supports their learning in class and should be read out loud to an adult daily.
• Each class visits our Reading Hub regularly, where they can enjoy texts freely and choose a Love to Read Text to take home and share with their families.
• For those children who read regularly at home, they receive Reading Rewards to celebrate their commitment to reading.

• To celebrate children’s birthdays, we gift a book from our school’s Book Vending Machine. The children are able to choose the texts they wish.

• We plan initiatives linked to developing reading for pleasure, this includes: dressing as characters, competitions and World Book Day celebrations, secret Santa style books gifted by our staff and themed displays in our Reading Hub.

Story time at FJS!

We sat together as an English team and pondered this question. We knew from our research that if we could read to our children daily and ensure that the time spent doing this was 15 minutes, we were onto a winner. Thus, the introduction to story time was born. We emphasised the importance of this ringed fenced time during the day and the staff took it on board.

The story time texts have all been chosen for their high quality and high interest to a range of readers. The fact that the class teacher is reading it to them means that even the lowest 20% of each class is whisked away and immersed in the stories between the pages. The impact has been huge - you are never too old for story time!

How is Reading taught?

Our reading sessions are built around high-quality and challenging texts, which are dissected by the class through questioning and discussion. The children are given opportunities to access a wide range of engaging activities that enable them to develop their vocabulary and comprehension skills. We believe that by teaching reading, using the whole class approach, our children are regularly immersed in a range children's literature. Children record their responses in their Reading Journals. Here's a selection of outcomes from across the school.

Year 3:

Year 4:

Year 5:

Year 6:

How do we support children who are not yet fluent readers?

Phonics

We recognise that a systematic approach to teaching phonics is the only pathway to ensure we develop our children into fluent readers.  Excellent phonic teaching and learning is delivered by highly trained and effective practitioners. This is crucial in allowing children to develop the skills they need for all areas of the English Curriculum. This is achieved through faithful and consistent use of the Little Wandles Letters and Sounds Revised programme.  Lessons are delivered with enthusiasm and confidence to inspire progress amongst all the children who are continuing their journey with phonics beyond Year 3.

FFT Wave 3 Intervention

The aim of FFT Wave 3 is to accelerate learning so that each child makes enough progress in reading and writing in order to access a group intervention and/or continue to progress through whole class /group teaching. The FFT Wave 3 Intervention is targeted at those children with significant gaps with their reading and writing  understanding.