The Teaching of Reading at Hatchlands Primary School

At Hatchlands Primary School, we believe that reading is the doorway into all learning. We are dedicated to ensuring that each and every one of our children learns to become accurate, confident and passionate readers. We do this through the teaching of systematic phonics, following the Read, Write, Inc programme.

We believe that children should:

• Behave like readers

• Be confident

• Enjoy books

• Talk about books they have read

• Acquire a skill, which they will use throughout life

Teachers nurture a love of books by placing reading at the centre of the curriculum. High quality texts are used to capture children’s imaginations and challenge their thinking. Through engagement with resources from the The Literacy Tree, children are exposed to a wide range of quality children’s literature. These texts are used as motivating and engaging hooks to launch new learning and topics, leading to a culmination of cross-curricular activities based around the book.

Early reading skills are consistently and rigorously taught across the school. Alongside effective use of phonics, children are encouraged to develop fluency and expression when reading as well as demonstrating appropriate comprehension. The children receive regular individual and shared reading sessions as well as the opportunity to listen to a rich diet of quality children’s literature during whole class storytimes.

Reading At Home

What will my child be bringing home?

All children in KS1 will be sent home with:

1 ‘Read Write Ink Book Bag Book’. This will contain sounds your child has learned recently within their phonics lessons. They should be able to read this book fairly fluently although they may have to apply their decoding (sounding out) skills when reading new words. Children will keep these books and re-read throughout the week to develop their fluency and ‘storyteller voice’. 

1 photocopy of the ‘Read Write Ink storybook’ they have been reading at school that week. They will have read this a few times already at school and should be able to read it to you at home without the need for sounding out. Your child will either be sent these every 3 or 5 days depending on which phonics group your child is in.

1 ‘library book’ from our school library. This will not necessarily match your child's reading ability however it is an opportunity to read for pleasure at home.

Reception children will all bring home a sound blending book and a library book. 

KS2 children will be sent home with 1 colour banded book and 1 library book. 

We also encourage you to read a range of books you have at home in addition to visiting the library.