Reading
We have a whole school commitment to making sure that every child is able to read and read confidently. We want our children to become enthusiastic, engaged readers and to develop a life-long love of books.  We introduce children to a range of high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry books through our whole-class, core-text approach to teaching reading, and during their daily whole-class reading lessons. 
In the early stages of reading, we teach children to decode words using phonic skills.  Once grasped, the focus for developing reading is understanding and comprehension.  During whole-class reading sessions, pupils are encouraged to consider what a ‘good reader’ is and the skills that are required to be able to not only decode words but read for meaning and pleasure. At Bishop John Robinson, we know that ‘good readers’ use a number of skills at once and therefore lessons are carefully planned to include opportunities for pupils to identify and practise these with others before applying them independently.
Pupils are also given opportunities to read for pleasure outside of lessons. Every class visits our local library every term to spend time selecting their own books to add to the classroom library. When the pupils have finished their chosen book, they swap with others. We also have our whole school ‘book swap’ area’s where pupils are free to choose any book they like to take home and read. This could mean that pupils are revisiting old favourites or choosing books about specific subjects that are not on their current curriculum. Pupils across the school are eager to share their passion for reading during whole school worship where each class has the opportunity to recommend a ‘book of the week’.

Reading at Home
At BJR we encourage children to read daily and to discuss the books they have taken home. All children will bring home a levelled reader from the Oxford University Press reading scheme and an additional book of their choosing for pleasure. Levelled readers will be changed weekly where children can read and discuss the book confidently and children will be encouraged to change their reading for pleasure book regularly.
Parental support is hugely important for developing their reading skills, confidence and understanding.  Even if your child is an independent reader, it is still important for you to read with them, listen to them and discuss the books they are reading.

Phonics
What will my child experience?
Learning to read has a high emphasis in all classes, especially in our Early Years and Key Stage 1 classrooms. Daily whole-class phonic sessions take place in which children are taught phonemes and the ability to blend in order for them to develop into fluent readers. Children initially take home a free-choice book which is changed every week. This book should be read/shared by an adult. At the beginning of the Spring Term, children also take home a levelled book which the child should read to someone. Both books are changed once per week. Every child reads to the Class Teacher 1:1 once per week and a record is made in the Reading Record to inform parents of any observations or next steps. Reading records are checked weekly and parent comments are acknowledged. Children are to read several times per week through whole-class Literacy sessions, where we have a book focus for a period of time, and we often finish the day with story-time.
Every child will bring home a levelled book from The Oxford University Press. Levelled books are changed and sent home weekly. We aim to listen to each child read individually in school every week. Children have reading records that accompany their home books which the parent/carers complete. 
Children in Year 2 will begin whole-class reading lessons using the ‘Routes to reading’ scheme, which builds on our phonics scheme.
All children in Key Stage 2 will have daily whole-class reading sessions.
All children will have reading as part of their school homework.
Children have the opportunity to go to borrow books from our new library and also to visit Thamesmead library.
World Book Day is celebrated every year, along with other key literacy festivals and dates.
Older pupils are encouraged to read to younger pupils during paired reading sessions.
Children are encouraged to take part in Summer Holiday reading schemes run by our local libraries.