Cherry Hinton C of E Primary School
Reading and Phonics at Cherry Hinton
Reading Overview
At Cherry Hinton Primary School we value reading as a crucial life skill. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose. We want children to become confident, fluent readers who use reading as a tool to explore the wider world and further their own learning journey. We also aim for them to develop a lifelong love of literature so that throughout their lives children can use books as a means of escapism, relaxation and pure enjoyment. Throughout school, we have a strong focus on language development and vocabulary acquisition, which supports reading and writing in all subjects.
Phonics
At Cherry Hinton Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. Early reading and writing is taught through phonics using Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme.
In phonics, children learn to DECODE text so they are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. Children in the nursery start the foundations to phonics with sound and listening games and in Reception they begin the Little Wandle programme and continue into Year 1.
Children learn to read by:
- Using phonics as the only route to decoding.
- Learning to say the phonic sounds.
- Blending phonic sounds to read words.
- Increasing the child’s fluency in reading sounds, words and books.
We are committed to every child becoming a reader. Every teacher in our school has been trained to teach reading, so we have the same expectations of progress. We all use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower children’s cognitive load. We have a Reading Leader who drives the reading programme in our school, monitors and supports our teachers to identify gaps in learning and helps to plan next steps for those who need additional support.
Please see our reading and phonics policy below to find out how we teach reading throughout school and how you can support your child with their reading journey.
Any questions about reading, please contact the school office and our reading leader will help you.
Access to Collins Hub
On the Collins Hub children have access to a fully decodable book matched to their level. Pupils have their own log ins. Pupils in EYFS, Year 1 and 2 and early readers from other year groups will have a new book allocated every week for them to read at home. Please find the Parent user guide by clicking the link below:
Reading for Pleasure
Stories, poetry and non-fiction texts are read in all classes to inspire, educate, challenge and stimulate children’s love of reading and there are opportunities to read for pleasure throughout the school week. Teachers use engaging, language-rich texts as a starting point for writing, which support our constant pursuit of building children's vocabulary. Story time is a much loved and protected time of day. Reading at home plays a vital role in their development. Research shows that reading books to your child has a major impact on their future reading ability. Children visit the school library every week to choose a book to take home and enjoy, in addition to their assigned reading book.
Enrichment activities
Children visit the local library and take part in National reading celebration days such as World Book Day and National Poetry Day. Every year we also hold a Book Week with a particular focus and where staff, children, visiting authors and parents share their knowledge and love of books.
Resources for parents
- Resources for parents can be found at the bottom of this page. You can also visit Little Wandle for more information.
Reading Recommendations
- Reception – School Reading List
- Year 1 – School Reading List
- Year 2 – School Reading List
- Year 3 – School Reading List
- Year 4 – School Reading List
- Year 5 – School Reading List
- Year 6 – School Reading List