Reading
'There's so much more to a book than just the reading.' Maurice Sendak
"Reading is the be all and end all, the master skill." - MV Staff
"Reading at Morley Victoria is the number one priority. If children can read, they can achieve anything!" - MV Governor
"I love that my child has learned to read so well and has been encouraged from day one. It is clearly very important to everyone at Morley Victoria." - MV Parent
"We read really good books at Morley Victoria and read so often - I really enjoy it." - MV Pupil
"I think reading is taught really well!" - MV Pupil
At Morley Victoria we consider Reading to be ‘The Master Skill’ and it lies at the very heart of our Curriculum. Reading allows children to acquire an array of new knowledge; to develop new skills from across the wider curriculum and to bring different subjects to life through non-fiction. Our Curriculum is full of rich, challenging, high quality texts and picture books for the children to enjoy. Reading fiction texts allows children to ‘get lost in a book’ and immerse themselves into the wonderful world of their imagination. Our children also love poetry – this is something that the children enjoy in every year group. We aspire to ensure that all children leave our school both with a love of reading and reading to the very best of their ability, ready for the challenge of the next stage in their education.
Reading at home
We believe that the whole school community has a role to play in helping our children to read. For families it is an expectation at Morley Victoria that learning is a shared responsibility between home and school, therefore all of our children and families are asked to read at home at least three times a week. The expectation is the same from Foundation to Year 6.
In the Foundation Stage the staff work with our families to demonstrate what ‘good reading’ looks like. They discuss posture, how to hold a book and how to interpret pictures and how children should hold their book. The aim is that good habits, formed early on, will benefit the children as they progress through school.
It is vital that our children not only read but that they are read to. Children love listening to stories, no matter how old they are. Share books, talk about books, join the library…make it a special time to sit and read together. There are many audio books available to share with your child too - this sometimes gives a different slant on reading if someone else or even the author is reading the story. Listening to the change in tone, and different voices, can make it very exciting and appealing. It is also lovely and relaxing way to end the day.
Reading at school
Reading is an extensive part of what we do in school on a daily basis and all staff have very high expectations of what the children can achieve. Being immersed in reading enables pupils to practise their reading skills exceptionally well which in turn leads them to become successful 'all round' learners. Sometimes we read individually, in pairs and sometimes in groups. Reading is done as a whole class – our children love to read and they especially love being read to! Reading ambassadors from Year 6 go and read with the children in Nursery – a treat to watch! We read in lessons, in assemblies and at every other given opportunity. Staff constantly check that children are learning to read successfully and any pupil who may begin to fall behind is helped to catch up quickly and to keep up. We work hard to ensure that individual reading books are well matched to a pupil's needs.
What else do we do?
We are lucky that our children have access to a range of different books in our well stocked libraries and class book corners from Nursery to Year 6. We also have ‘The Book Club’ saving scheme operating in Foundation Stage to encourage that love of books from the very start.
In school we also have and celebrate:
- Free and accessible libraries - in classrooms and communal areas
- Reading challenges – in classes, year groups and sometimes for the whole school
- Reading Ambassadors
- Volunteer Readers who come and read with the children
- Volunteer librarians that open the library during and after school
- Mystery Readers! (Please volunteer if you would like to surprise a class with a story.)
- Extreme Reading
- Recommended reading lists for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and magazines
- Reading assemblies
- Books of the month
- MV Book Day
- The Book Fair
- Y6 take part in the Leeds Book Awards
- The Summer Library Challenge
We are always open and looking at ways to further encourage reading – let us know if you have any ideas.
Please click HERE to be redirected to our EARLY READING page.
Please click HERE to go to our WHOLE CLASS READING page.
Please click HERE to visit our PHONICS page.
