Reading and Phonics at William Torbitt Primary
School
W
e love reading at our school - ‘Attainment in reading at the end of Years 2 and 6 is
the strongest aspect of pupils’ learning, and is above expected levels. This is
because teachers provide pupils with good opportunities to practise reading and help
them to sound out letters and sections of words well. Pupils of different ages were keen to
read to inspectors and talk about the books and authors they like to read. In discussions with
pupils, many felt that the school helps them develop their reading skills well.’
Please read on to found out more about what we do:
Guided reading / Individual Reading
We have regular Guided Reading sessions in groups, as well as individual reading for pupils
who are at the earlier stages of learning to read. Our teachers record our progress as we
read. We also have reading journals or home liaison books diaries and we, our teachers and
our parents write comments to each other about how well we are doing.
We have a lot of books to choose from for Guided Reading and individual reading. At William
Torbitt we use a mixture of real books and reading scheme books which have been
organised into a colour banding system for the younger pupils.
Book Areas
We have a dedicated book area in every classroom. We can choose books from here to
read in the classroom at different times during the day.
School Library / Mobile Library
We can visit our library regularly to choose books that we enjoy. There is a range of fantastic
fiction and non-fiction books to choose from. Mrs Ahadi our school librarian works hard to
ensure we have a good selection of books by popular authors. She has also bought in a
popular selection of graphic novels and information books.
Each week the School is visited by the Redbridge Mobile Library, so we can choose from an
even wider range of books to take home.
Parents in Partnership
Our Mums, Dads and family members come along to our Parent Workshops to find out
about how to support us at home with our reading. Our parents can also come in to school
for ‘Books for Breakfast’ where we can share all sorts of books with them and before school.
We are expected to read at home every night and to bring our books to school every day.
Teachers as Readers
Each day our teachers read to us. We sometimes have a class novel, or a book that is linked
to out topic.
Reading Buddies
We have ‘Reading Buddies’. Year 6 and Year 5 children read with younger children and help
them to apply all of the strategies they are learning to read unknown words by segmenting
and blending.
The older children teach the younger children to talk about the text and the illustrations and
ask questions to see if the younger children understand what they are reading. This helps to
develop everyone’s reading confidence!
Reading across the Curriculum
We enjoy using our reading skills in every lesson and our teachers provide opportunities for
us to do so in all subjects. In every class there is a book corner filled with books to support
our curriculum topics and for us to enjoy.
Teaching Phonics - Letters and Sounds
At William Torbitt we use ‘letters and sounds’ to teach Phonics.
We have a daily phonics session where we learn about how to read and write using our
phonic knowledge.
We play a lot of different phonic games which help us understand how sounds make words
and we use words to make sentences. We use the Interactive Whiteboard and our mini
whiteboards to play games and learn new phonemes and graphemes. We have just started
using our new i-pads to play reading games too.
In Year 1 and 2 the children practise their use of phonics using a program called Lexia.
If you would like to know more about reading at William Torbitt Primary
School, feel free to contact us and ask for Mrs. Kubweza or Mrs Fazil
(our Literacy Leaders) who will be able to give you more information.