Reading Culture and Reading Enrichment
At Shelford, there is a very strong reading culture that is promoted by all adults and is evident in all children. The love of reading and reading for pleasure come from pupils gaining secure phonics skills as their reliable way of decoding. Once this fluency is built, texts and the curriculum open up to children and their enjoyment is evident in how they speak of their favourite authors, books and themes.
The teaching of reading, promoting the love of reading and reading for pleasure take place in many different ways at Shelford. A few of these can be found below:
- Whole class guided reading
- Little Wandle Reading Practice Groups (Reception, Y1 and any child accessing the Little Wandle scheme)
- Individual reading / group reading
- Class text read by an adult (all adults are seen as readers)
- Special reading events at lunchtimes
- Whole class big read
- Annual celebration of World Book Day - including events like 'Drop Everything and Read!'
- Annual Philippa Pearce Award (see below)
Philippa Pearce Award
Each year, we hold a special ceremony to celebrate reading progress. We call this the Philippa Pearce Award.
Philippa Pearce was an author who lived just opposite the school, down Kings Mill Lane in Kings Mill House. Many people know that this location inspired the setting for her book, 'Tom's Midnight Garden'.
Shelford is very fortunate to have a longstanding relationship with Philippa's daughter, Sally Christie. Each year, we welcome Sally to our Philippa Pearce Award.
One pupil from each class is selected for making the most progress over the academic year. The English Leader liaises with the family of the pupil and select a text, which is given as their prize for the award. The school also purchases a second copy, which is carefully placed in the library with a bookplate outlining which child won the text for the library.
At the Philippa Pearce Award ceremony, Sally Christie also reads a text written by Philippa Pearce, or an extract from one. The children love learning about Philippa and enjoy the local connection - along with Sally's wonderful reading!
Teaching of Phonics and Early Reading
Please see below for our latest policy statement regarding this vital area of the curriculum.
We currently follow Letters and Sounds and use our wonderful staff expertise to ensure appropriate CPD, assessment and a systematic approach. We selected the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised approach, in-light of the Reading Review (2021).
The PowerPoint below gives further information on the teaching of phonics and early reading.