At St. Nicholas we have a clear, consistent, whole school approach to reading. Competence in reading is the key to independent learning and is given high priority within our school. The range of approaches used enable children to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers.

Our range of strategies include;

• Phonic knowledge, using the scheme Little Wandle across EYFS & KS1
• Grammatical knowledge
• Word recognition and graphic knowledge
• Contextual knowledge
• Following a staged reading scheme, Little Wandle and Accelerated Reader
• Reading a range of both fiction and non fiction texts
• In EYFS and Year 1 reading is predominantly taught through Little Wandle and the sharing of quality texts. In Year 2 reading is taught through Guided Reading and in KS2 Whole Class Reading. 
• Providing quality texts

Little Wandle, rapid catch up and Better Reading Partnerships are used to support learners who may find reading challenging.

We are an Accelerated Reader School.  Pupils in Year 2 and the juniors are guided to challenging books by their teachers and can then take computer based quizzes to test their understanding of the book when they have completed it.

We believe that it is important for children to see the process being modelled by their teacher and they take part regularly in reading activities with the whole class, as a member of a small group or individually.  
We are committed to ensuring that the need of every child is met and tailor reading to suit a range of abilities. Children read extensively throughout the week and also receive one to one support regardless of their reading ability.

We also strive to maintain a strong Home-School Partnership as this will help to nurture a love of books and help our children to derive pleasure from their reading experiences. This can be achieved by continuing the methods used within school, such as discussion with reference to author, illustrator, genre, theme and characters.

Click here to visit AR BookFinder webpage

Please see below for some questions you can ask your child when reading