Reading
Reading is a very important part of a child's education at Heathmere.
We encourage children to read every day at home and to develop reading skills, as well as a love of reading that we hope stays with them for the rest of their lives! We host a large number of author visits - so far this year, Anthony Horowitz, Peter Bunzl and SF Said have all been to talk to our children. In 2017/18 Heathmere received a 'Reading for Pleasure Award' from the Society of Authors, in recognition of our work to promote reading.
We teach reading in different ways, including literacy lessons based on books or extracts from books, whole class phonics sessions and mall group phonics, reciprocal reading sessions looking and other targetted interventions for children who need extra help.
Phonics
In the Early Years (Nursery and Reception) we follow the 'Letters and Sounds' programme. Nursery fopcus on 'Phase One' sounds and Reception on Phases 2-4. For further details relating to 'Letters and Sounds' please click here. Reception class use the 'Oxford Reading Tree' reading scheme as well as phonics bug books.
We encourage children to read every day at home and to develop reading skills, as well as a love of reading that we hope stays with them for the rest of their lives! We host a large number of author visits - so far this year, Anthony Horowitz, Peter Bunzl and SF Said have all been to talk to our children. In 2017/18 Heathmere received a 'Reading for Pleasure Award' from the Society of Authors, in recognition of our work to promote reading.
We teach reading in different ways, including literacy lessons based on books or extracts from books, whole class phonics sessions and mall group phonics, reciprocal reading sessions looking and other targetted interventions for children who need extra help.
Phonics
In the Early Years (Nursery and Reception) we follow the 'Letters and Sounds' programme. Nursery fopcus on 'Phase One' sounds and Reception on Phases 2-4. For further details relating to 'Letters and Sounds' please click here. Reception class use the 'Oxford Reading Tree' reading scheme as well as phonics bug books.
Further details of our reading provision is below:
Heathmere Libraries
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Heathmere School now has two libraries - one in KS2 and one in EYFS/KS1. In fact all the books in EYFS/KS1 are now library books - the children can borrow any book they see! We have over 4,000 books for the children to borrow, including fiction books, graphic novels, picture books, non-fiction books and more. Our KS2 Library was opened by Jacqueline Wilson and the poet Joseph Coelho came to open our EYFS/KS1 Library.
We are very grateful to the Foyle Foundation for providing a grant to support the development of the library. |
Patron of Reading
At Heathmere we have our very own 'Patron of Reading'. Last year, our Patron was the wonderful Neal Zetter, followed by Craig Jenkins this year. Thanks to Patron of Reading for their help setting this up.
Storyteller in Residence
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We now have our very own Early Years Storyteller in Residence - the fantastic, Sarah Cantrill of Story Storks.
Sarah visits our Nursery and Reception classes each half term and leaves them buzzing with excitement. Each visit, they learn about a different story, usually a fairy tale or other traditional tale. |
Roehampton Reads
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Heathmere has it's very own reading festival - Roehampton Reads. Last year, over 400 children came to the festival and heard from so many exciting authors, storytellers, and poets - more details here.
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Beanstalk
We work in partnership with Beanstalk, a national reading charity who provide volunteer readers to read 1-2-1 with children in school. This helps make sure any readers who have fallen behind get the opportunity to catch up, as well as developing a love of reading and books!
Books for all!
Every child in Nursery, Reception and Year 1 get a copy of the book they are reading in literacy - it's theirs to keep and take home. This means every child gets six books a year - they will have 18 books of their own by the end of Year 1, if they start with us in Nursery. Children form Year 2 to Year 6 get two books a year, so children will leave Heathmere with their own 'little library' of 28 books which they can keep forever.
Support for this exciting project has come from a charitable foundation and also from Give A Book. |
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Give A Book
We are supported by the national charity, 'Give A Book', who have kindly donated books for our reading festival and for children to use in class. They are fantastic supporters of reading at Heathmere and we are very grateful for their support!
For further details, please see: http://www.giveabook.org.uk/
For further details, please see: http://www.giveabook.org.uk/
National Literacy Trust - Young Readers Programme
We participate in the National Literacy Trust's Young Readers programme which includes exciting events in school and free books for our children! Find out more information here.
Little Free Library
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We have set up a 'Little Free Library' in our KS1 playground. Children are free to read a book at break time - they can even take it home if they want! This project has been kindly supported by Nick Cheshire at the Little Free Library Project (that's Nick in the picture, installing our little library) and Give A Book (see above).
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Parent support
Parents can help to support their child's learning by reading with them regularly. Please click on the links below for ideas about how you can encourage your child to read and also some questions that are useful to ask your child when they are reading.
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What should I read next?
Please click on the links below for recommended reading lists for each year group, from EYFS to Year 6.
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| year_6.pdf |
