Reading
Children at our partnership are taught to read using the "Letters and Sounds" phonics scheme. Phonics sounds should be pronounced in a particular way for ease of learning. Please see Oxford Owl's Pure Sounds video to find out how each sound should be said.
All staff are committed to helping every child read by 6yrs old. This commitment begins in Foundation where children are systematically taught the most common phonemes, or sounds.
Once children are confident readers they then begin to explore other reading schemes, helping them to consolidate their reading skills.
Additional Reading
The most effective way of teaching reading is through small-group guided sessions. This may include individual reading with an adult or a small group session known as Guided Reading. We also encourage parents to share quality texts for pleasure with their children in the form of a bedtime story every day. This aids children’s vocabulary development and in turn helps develop their writing skills.
Across the Infant School, we will be continuing to award raffle tickets to all children who read four or more times a week in their reading journal at home. These tickets are collected in each class and, at the end of the half term, two winners are chosen from each class pot. The winners get a book of their choice to take home.
Our Libraries
We are very proud of our Libraries as they offer a wealth of books covering various topics including a significant number of Fiction titles for all abilities.
At Parsons Down, children have access to the school libraries (one at the Infants and another at the Juniors). Children can borrow a book for 1 week before returning it and renewing it or exchanging it for another. Renewals and exchanges are done in the allotted class time. If there are any issues with books, the librarian is available during breaktime on Tuesdays at the Infants and lunchtime on Mondays at the Juniors.
Reading and Book Events
The Libraries also work alongside the English Department, running some fun reading programmes throughout the year. One of our most successful events is the annual Book Swap – where children are encouraged to bring in a book that they no longer want and swap it for a book that someone else has donated.
We have also been very fortunate to have been visited by authors Simon Murray, Peter Murray and Ruth Wheeler.