Mark Cross Church of England Primary School

Reading at Mark Cross

Reading is the door to creativity, to visualisation and to greater knowledge; it is the gateway to fantastic, impossible realms, planets and worlds. Research tells us that children who read for pleasure on a daily basis develop a wider vocabulary, greater general knowledge, better understanding of other cultures and therefore become better writers. It is perhaps one of the single most important factors in a child’s development. Naturally, we therefore believe that it is every child’s right to learn to read, but we hope that our children go far beyond this to develop a true love and pleasure for reading.

At Mark Cross Sc hool we know that reading is vital to learning throughout the curriculum and in life.  However we strongly believe that reading must also be an enjoyable experience for all children.  

Our aim is to teach children to read decoding accurately, recognising familiar words, using their grammatical knowledge, their knowledge of the world and the story,  through the use of carefully levelled books. We do this through discrete Phonics sessions, one-to-one reading with teachers, TA’s and volunteers (when possible). Guided Reading groups and working together on texts as a class. Children have the opportunity to experience a wide range of whole texts and extracts from a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry genres.

Alongside this, we aim to develop the children’s comprehension skills through discussion and questioning, enabling them to elaborate their understanding. The children participate in Reciprocal Reading  groups during which they are given the opportunity to investigate, explore and delve into texts, videos and pictures. They are encouraged to join in discussions and answer questions, developing their ability to comprehend literally but also improving their inference skills.

Most importantly children are read to for pleasure using a rich and varied range of picture books and novels. Staff are reading roles models who demonstrate and encourage a love for reading. The children have access to a wide variety of reading materials through the school library, visiting authors, book fairs and the carefully selected texts used in the teaching of English.

Through all of this we hope to create fluent, confident readers who appreciate and enjoy books.