Our vision at Childer Thornton is for the children to become articulate and confident communicators in both written and verbal forms.

Our values-led curriculum drives forward a strong motivation and desire for our children to have their voices heard and we aim to equip them with the necessary skills to do so in the most effective way. We have very high expectations of the children’s English work which the children rise to, thanks to exciting, purposeful lessons and an excellent engagement with the subject. A love of reading is evident throughout our school and teachers continuously strive to promote this passion.

We use the Read, Write Inc programme to teach reading and phonics in our early years classes, Year 1 and some children in Year 2. All the children are regularly assessed and grouped according to their current level of phonic knowledge and skill. These groups are fluid and children will move groups throughout the year. Sessions take place daily and are taught by staff trained specifically in the programme.  If you would like more information about the programme, please click here

We also use the Read, Write, Inc 'Fresh Start' catch-up programme for children in Key Stage 2 who have gaps in their phonic knowledge.

Children in EYFS and Year 1 will bring home at least two corresponding Read, Write Inc books per week which are closely matched to their current phonic knowledge and as such should be fully decodable. These will be supplemented with a book from our library for children to share with an adult or older sibling. This book will probably not be fully decodable for your child yet so the expectation is not for the child to read this book themselves. We believe strongly that children will develop a love of reading through experiencing success when reading at home and having quality story time with a wide range of books.

The best way to help your child achieve well in reading, and indeed across the curriculum, is to hear them read and share and discuss a variety of reading materials as often as you can. We urge you to strive for five times a week. This is to develop and embed those good reading habits that will help them to be successful in school and beyond. Throughout school, high quality books and other reading resources in the classrooms, along with special events such as author visits, help to inspire and motivate children to read.

At the end of Year 1, all our children take a national test in phonics. Our children excel in this and our results are consistently above the national average. Outcomes for all our children in reading are consistently above the national average in all benchmarks. 

Our Headteacher has a passion for reading and enjoys sharing a different book each week in assembly. Mrs Y’s story time is a highlight for many children.

If you have any questions about reading in our school or your child’s reading progress, please don’t hesitate to speak to your child’s teacher or get in touch with the subject leader Mrs McManus.