Reading

At Corpus Christi, we teach phonics using the North Somerset’s Programme for Phonics into Early Spelling supported by the Letters and Sounds programme and Jolly Phonics kinaesthetic actions and stories.

Once children are ready to begin reading, we use a range of reading schemes giving a diverse range of both fiction and non-fiction texts for the children to read and enjoy. As children move through the early stages of acquiring phonics, their practice includes opportunities to read texts which are entirely decodable for them from the Phonics Bug club, Collins Big Phonics and Oxford Reading Tree Songbirds Phonics schemes.

Once children have a secure knowledge of letter/sound correspondences and can blend words confidently, they journey through our Book Banded reading scheme which has books from various published schemes, such as Oxford Reading Tree, Nelson Thornes’ Fast Lane, All Aboard, PM, Ginn Pocket facts and Ginn Pocket Tales and Tree Top fiction. As a result of this varied wealth of texts, children experience a wide variety of reading genres. There are fiction and non-fiction books within each level. 

Children are assessed informally before they move to the next reading level, to ensure texts are pitched appropriately.

Some children receive 1 : 1 reading support from Teaching Assistants/Learning Support Assistants, and volunteer reading partners, as required.

Once children can read fluently and with a good understanding, they self-select books for independent reading from either our school library, class reading areas or from home.