Reading

Reading

At Brookhouse, we believe that reading is a fundamental life skill that impacts on the acquisition of all knowledge. We recognise that reading is the core skill to everything that children do and our priority is making sure that all pupils, regardless of their background or ability, make rapid progress in reading words accurately and automatically so that they are able to develop their comprehension, and access all areas of the curriculum. We want every child to be highly engaged in reading, to be confident to talk about books and authors and to understand how reading helps them to become lifelong learners. By teaching every child to read well, prioritising time within the school day to read, and embedding a culture of reading into the core of what we do, we believe that we have the opportunity to make a huge difference to our children’s education.

Home Reading

Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too. Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages. To begin, children decode words by sounding them out (Fred talking) and then blending these sounds together. Once they have practised these words a few times, they begin to read them ‘at a glance’. This is why your child brings home a book that has been carefully chosen so that they can work out all the words for themselves. Re-reading a text, gradually increases the number of words in it that they can read ‘at a glance’. Children need lots of praise and encouragement to read unfamiliar words and it is important that they are encouraged to break these words down rather than guessing. This supports children to become accurate with their reading. If they make a mistake, praise them for trying and encourage them to go back and have another go. Once children are reading accurately and at speed, their reading comprehension will develop. Until then, you can develop their understanding through reading to them, talking about books and poems and helping them to learn new vocabulary.