Our gorgeous Reading Buddies really encourage a love of reading in Reception! These adorable soft toys can be lent out to pupils with a book to share at home with parents! They are very popular and have created a great opportunity for discussion around reading.

Books

As the children start on their reading journey, they choose books from a selection of colour-banded texts. These texts get progressively more challenging as they work their way through the colours. At Whitstone, we use various different reading schemes. Our children have the opportunity to read books from a range of schemes enabling them to experience as vast a range of texts as possible.

In Reception and Key Stage One, children will bring home a phonetic levelled  book to share with an adult at home. Once the children have worked their way through these books, they will become free readers, and choose non-scheme books to read at home. In Key Stage Two, children are encouraged to continue their development as enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers.

Home Reading

At Whitstone, we encourage and support pupils to engage in reading at home as much as possible. Books are taken home so that parents can help by listening to and reading with their children. This is an expectation as children who read regularly at home are more likely to become independent and successful readers. In the early years/KS1, teaching staff select ‘phonetic’ books in line with the sounds being taught in school in order to provide further practice at home. We also encourage parents to share stories and read to their children as often as possible.  ‘Early Years’ teachers hold regular workshops and offer guidance to support parents with the developing stage of emergent reading.