Reading
Reading for Pleasure
At BVCS, we believe reading is at the heart of all learning and is the driving force behind our curriculum. Your child is encouraged to read for pleasure everyday through whole-class reading sessions, independent reading time, the enjoyment of a class novel and informal book-talk. Our classroom environments reflect this ethos with opportunities for your child to make recommendations and select books carefully. Reading areas are calm, relaxing and purposeful so your child is able to read for pleasure without distraction or discomfort. They are encouraged to make their own choices and develop their own opinions about what they read. A variety of texts are available in classrooms and in the school library, which is used by each class once every week. A wide range of books are shared with the children which include representations of all cultures, backgrounds and needs that resonate with our growing, diverse community. We have a KS2 'Book Swap' on the corridor which allows children to bring their old books and choose a different one to take home. There is also an adult book swap for families and staff members to recommend their books and try a new one!
Whole-class Reading
Children in years one and two receive whole-class reading sessions three times every week, which involve book talk , work around fluency and comprehension skills. From years three to six, pupils follow a ten-day sequence of whole-class reading sessions that centre around the fluency skills, book talk and comprehension when reading. Your child is immersed in a quality text, discusses and answers questions to deepen their understanding of and make connections with the words they read. These sessions focus on analysing the author’s intent and choice of vocabulary. Pupils can form opinions and make predictions around what they have read and inferred. These lessons provide your child with a chance to acquire new language as well as fostering a love for literature. We help your child to deepen their knowledge and understanding of vocabulary and concepts through our Reading into Writing Sequence which enables them to take on the role of an author.