Reading at Highlees

At Highlees, we want our children to become lifelong readers.  We place reading and books at the centre of our curriculum. We recognise the importance of developing children’s discrete word reading skills and comprehension, and the need to encourage their love of books and reading.

Children begin their reading journey on our banded book selection.  These books are grouped according to their phonics phase; assuring children can access the text and developing their decoding skills. As children develop their fluency, they move onto our KS2 banded book scheme where they become independent readers. We are dedicated to reading 1-1 with a child weekly.

Each classroom has a dedicated reading area, which includes a variety of class books (Fiction and non-Fiction) which the children can choose and read for pleasure. Around school, there are a number of themed 'Reading Nooks' that are designed to encourage children to 'curl up with a book' during break and lunchtimes. Children are read to, by their teacher, on a daily basis during ‘Class Book’ time.

Every class at Highlees studies carefully chosen texts, linked to their wider curriculum, in depth.  By focusing on core texts for extended periods we hope to develop a real understanding of characters, relationships and plot whilst developing a love of reading. These texts are explored in daily reading sessions and also provide an opportunity for pupils to develop a range of comprehension skills, such as retrieval and inference. Over the year, children will get to encounter a wide range of genres – fiction, non-fiction and poetry. 

We also have a library, centrally located so that all classes can access the space.  This is used for sharing stories and books as a group as well as exploring new texts independently and in pairs.  

Click below to find out more about reading at Highlees.