Our approach to Reading

At Chesterton, we value reading as a key life skill. By the time children leave Chesterton, they should be confident selecting and reading a wide range of material and enjoy regularly reading for pleasure.

Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary and material. They are able to recommend books to their peers and enjoy reading a wide range of genres, including non-fiction. Children enjoy participating in book talk, including evaluating an author’s use of language and how this can affect the reader. We encourage our pupils to see themselves as discerning readers and to be confident in discussing not only whether they enjoy a text but also the extent to which they agree with it. We ensure the books we read are part of our rich reading diet and in our books corners are representative of our wider school community and reflect the diversity of our childrens’ lived experiences.

How we teach Reading (KS2)

We teach reading comprehension through daily reading lessons. Each half term, children will read and analyse a fiction, a non-fiction or a poetry text. Reading lessons include:

An element of prosody (reading with feeling)
A close look at key vocabulary that children may be unfamiliar with
Unpicking the key skill focus for that lesson (retrieval, inference, prediction, summarising, vocabulary, making links)
Modelled answering of questions
Opportunities to apply the day's reading skills independently
A weekly reading for pleasure session
Teaching fluency by model reading, echo reading, choral reading and paired reading

In addition to our reading lessons in KS2, we also provide children with:

Opportunities to read for pleasure
Daily rapid catch up for children in years 3-6 (for any child who is not a fluent reader)
Regular storytimes
Regular, open ended discussions about stories and books.
Opportunities to read and discuss a wide read of genres including poetry and non-fiction (including weekly newspapers to ensure children are aware of local, national and global issues).

Books that the children take home are carefully chosen to match the children's interests and their level of fluency.

For information about our approach to Early Reading (Early Years and KS1) please click here.

We also have a number of reading enrichment activities, including:

Regular visits to Battersea Park Library where children choose books to borrow and are read to by the Children’s Librarian.
Regular visits to the school library
Regular visits from authors and poets throughout the school year.
Participation in local reading competitions including the library summer reading challenge.
Celebrations for World Book Week including reading breakfasts, competitions and lots of amazing costumes!
Access to their teachers reading stories on the school website.
Book fairs once a year- children are timetabled in for browsing sessions.
Reading breakfasts every term to welcome families into our reading for pleasure culture.
Reading buddies- teaming up older and younger classes to share favourite books together.

In addition, 1:1 reading is put in place for children that need extra practise. Books that the children take home are carefully chosen to match the children’s interests and their level of fluency.