Reading
At St Agatha’s, we believe that all children can become fluent readers and writers. We teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics (SSP) programme.
Teaching Reading
We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. We use books matched to the children’s phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments.
Each reading session has a clear focus on one of the key reading skills:
- decoding
- prosody – teaching children to read with understanding and expression
- comprehension – teaching children to understand the text
In Reception, these sessions start in week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.
This continues throughout Year 1 and for any children in Year 2 and 3, who still need to practise reading with decodable books.
Once your child has completed the Little Wandle programme and is reading fluently, we encourage them to select their own books to take home from the class selection and the school library. We continue to teach reading strategies through guided reading and whole class reading sessions in order that the children are able to comprehend more challenging texts.
Recommended Reading
To support your child’s reading choices at home, please click on the links below for a range of recommended reading books. This is updated on a yearly basis.
Scholastic Book Club Fair
Encouraging children to read, promoting books and valuing reading is extremely important. To support this, each term we send home a Scholastic Book Fair leaflet for you to browse through. The leaflets feature a wide range of books for all tastes and abilities, so there is something to suit everyone.
There is never an obligation to order; however, if you would like to buy anything this can be done by visiting St Agathas RC Primary School - Scholastic Shop
Scholastic Book Club at our school is organised and managed by one of our parents: Skye Pickin.
The school benefits by receiving free books for the school library with every order placed.