At Kingsway Junior School, we value reading very highly. We aim to develop pupils’ reading skills by working with a broad range of extended texts, both fiction and non-fiction. We teach our children how to  read  texts fluently, with deep understanding, and we  encourage them to read for pleasure.  We teach reading to our pupils in the following ways:

Whole Class Books

English lessons are taught  through  quality texts  which  have been carefully chosen to engage the children and inspire a whole range of writing opportunities  linked to the book.  Across the year, children will work with a wide range of  texts  including  picture books, story books, reports, non-fiction books, Shakespeare stories and poetry.

Guided Reading

Teachers work with small groups of pupils to teach specific and targeted reading skills in books  that are  challenging and will develop  their reading skills. Guided reading lessons show children how to engage deeply with different texts thus developing their comprehension. The aim is to support children in reading books of increasing challenge in order to prepare them for all the reading they will need to undertake across many subjects in their future education. Children undertake a  range of reading activities during guided reading lessons  including reading fluency, independent reading, reading picnics and carefully targeted questioning, based on VIPERS.  

Class Story

The last 10 minutes of every day is dedicated to children listening to their teacher read; this might be reading from their whole class book from English lessons,  or it might be something completely different.

Reading for Pleasure

At Kingsway Juniors,  we promote children’s own reading for pleasure. Children go to our library every week and can choose any book that interests them, or that they would like to try reading.  We encourage children to try different authors and  non-fiction books, so that they can begin to identify the authors and subjects that bring them joy in their reading. Children can take their library book  home  in addition to their own reading-book, Their reading-book is chosen from the class reading corner  and should be a book they can read with relative ease.

Reading one-to-one with an adult

We know that reading to an adult is important and also special to a child and so build this time into the school day.