Reading

Early reading at Bishop William Ward is taught through systematic synthetic phonics using Little Wandle (Letters and Sounds Revised). Phonically decodable books are used in group reading sessions to teach decoding, prosody (pace and intonation) and comprehension skills.

Towards the end of Year 2 and throughout Key Stage 2, daily whole class reading sessions take place, working on fluency and comprehension skills.  These sessions involve reading from a high-quality text chosen as part of a series of books to give a broad range of reading experiences throughout the key stage. Texts are often linked to topics, but not always; the most important consideration is the quality of the text.

Phonics
Daily phonics lessons are taught in EYFS and Year 1. Some children in Year 2 continue to receive phonics lessons where necessary and all learn to apply their phonics skills in spelling. For more details about Little Wandle Phonics, including how you can support your child, follow the link below.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

DERIC
DERIC is a reading comprehension strategy used in some classes that helps children identify the skills needed to become a successful reader.  To find out more (including what DERIC stands for!) click here.

A Love of Reading
We encourage children to love Reading.  Throughout the year, we hold different events such as: Book Swap; paired reading; celebrating World Book Day and recommended reads.  Each class has a reading area in their room and children also have the opportunity to choose the books that they wish to see on the shelves in our library.  Each class in Key Stage 2 has a set of more challenging texts as part of their class libraries to encourage children to read at a greater depth.

We are extremely grateful to the parents, grandparents and other friends of the school for the time they give voluntarily to come in and support children with their reading.

Supporting Your Child at Home
Each class has a set of questions that are used to encourage age-appropriate comprehension skills.  If you would like to use these at home, click here.

For ideas to support your child if they are not yet a reading enthusiast, click here.