Tudor Church of England Primary School

Reading is a central to all the learning that the children undertake here at Tudor CE Primary School. From phonics to guided reading to sharing texts together to independent reading; our curriculum is designed to help promote reading skills in all of our children.

We see reading as being much more than saying the words that are in front of them. We want children to love reading, to make links, to understand characters and imagine settings that described. We want them to be able to use non-fiction books effectively, understanding how they are organised and how they can locate information quickly and effectively. 

Each classroom has a book corner so that children can enjoy books in a comfortable and cosy environment.

We send books home for you to share and ask that you listen to your children read as frequently as possible. 

In years 2-6 we use Accelerated Reader. It is a web-based program that helps children progress by ensuring the choose books that are the right level for comprehension. Children complete a Star Reader test which generates a reading age and a range of levels for them to choose books from suitable for their ability. We carry out these Star Reader tests regularly to make sure children are reading the right level books.

After completing a book children are able to complete a quiz with either 5 or 10 questions to check they have understood what they have read. Below there is a PowerPoint presentation which explains a little more about the Accelerated Reader program. 

For the younger children in school, books are organised according to the sounds they practise so that books sent home can be matched to the sound the children are learning in school. These are sequenced to match the order of teaching in school. Children are also able to take home picture books of their own choice to promote a love of reading. Please find out more about phonics and the teaching sequence under the phonics tab. 

In Key Stage 2 we use VIPERS (Rob Smith, The Literacy Shed) in our English lessons to improve our reading skills. 

VIPERS stands for:

V - Vocabulary 

I - Inference

P - Prediction

E - Explain

R - Retrieve

S - Sequence or Summarise

Using the class text, we answer questions using these 6 areas. 

We encourage children to use evidence from the text, quoting directly and making inferences about texts and passages. Children use dictionaries to find out meanings of new words and use them in context for the 'V' thread. We may also look for examples of figurative language such as alliteration or think about why an author has selected a certain word and what the effect of that is. 

In our library, you can see the school Reading River. This display shows the progression of some of the whole class texts we use from Early Years to Year 6. We make sure the class texts match the ages and abilities of the children whilst being aspirational and high quality texts. Follow our river to see the reading journey throughout the school.