Reading is the most powerful tool we give our children. It builds their speech, imagination, confidence and cognitive skills. Without reading, a child’s vocabulary would not develop, their access to the rest of the curriculum would be limited, and we would be denying them the joy getting lost in a story can bring. Here at Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy, it underpins all that we do. We begin teaching early reading schools through Read, Write, Inc and Talk 4 Writing in pre-school. This journey continues through early years and Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, we build upon this further through our daily reading VIPERS sessions, which focus on the specific skills within reading (vocabulary, inference, predict, explain, retrieve and summarise) as well as independent reading for 30 minutes a day and an adult led end of the day class read. All of these precise reading opportunities build your child’s skills and progress across the entire curriculum; whether it be understanding reasoning in maths to following instructions in PE. Reading improves focus, memory, empathy and communication skills. Recent research has identified that children who actively engage in reading at primary school go on to achieve top GCSE results, compared to those who do not.

Parents and guardians have a massive part to play in developing reading skills: 

Parents and the home environment are essential to the early teaching of reading and fostering a love of reading; children are more likely to continue to be readers in homes where books and reading are valued (Clark and Rumbold, 2006).

Our expectations

All children must bring their reading books and signed reading records to school every day. Parents are encouraged to ask their children questions about what they have read and sign the reading record by writing out one of these questions. Teacher’s have question suggestion packs available for parents to support this. Key Stage 2 children are able to sign their own reading records with a sentence about what they have read, but we still encourage parents to read with their children regardless of age.

Children will have two independent reading sessions a day where they will also have the opportunity to take their Accelerated Reading quizzes.

In school, all Key Stage 1 children will read to an adult over a one week period which will be signed in pink with the VIPERS question posed.

In Key Stage 2 this will be conducted over a two week period. Children that have been identified as struggling with reading will read with an adult on a daily basis.

Rewarding Commitment 

At Stapleford Abbotts Primary Academy we celebrate our committed readers without 'Wonderful Readers' incentive. Each class has a reading direction signpost display within their classroom. The aim is for children to move from the bottom of the post up to Wonderland by the end of term. In order for them to achieve this, they will have to have read at home and had their reading record signed 50 times. Children who have reached the top by the end of each term will receive an invitation to the Mad Hatter’s tea party where they will feast on scrumptious cakes, sandwiches and treats!  However, our rewards do not stop there…. 

If your child reaches 90 reads before the end of term, they will enter into the race to become the ultimate SAPA reader in which they will get to become the Mad Hatter at the tea party as well as help design the tea party menu! 

We really appreciate your continued help and support with home reading. Let’s get our children reading and inspire a true love of reading for our future leaders.

Non-compliance procedure 
It is so important we work together to build reading skills, and it is a school expectation that the above home reading expectations are followed. Where this isn’t the case, teacher’s will follow the following guidance:
Two days of unsigned reading records: teacher will speak to parent at home time.
Three days of unsigned reading records: official letter given to parent and SLT informed.
Five days of unsigned reading records: parent to have conversation with SLT.

It is paramount that we give our children the best start in life, which is why we place such emphasis on reading in school and at home. Thank you for your continued support.