When a child turns 18, they will have spent between 9-13% of their waking life in a classroom. For every hour we have a child in school, their parents have them for ten. The importance of children reading at home is crucial to their development as readers.

Reading Diaries:

At St Alban’s we had our own reading designed and tailored our needs. The expectation is our children read at least three times a week at home and record it in their diaries. As children progress through the school, more ownership is placed on the children to record this independently.

Every half term, a Home Reading Task is added to the diaries. These are open ended activities, linked to the content domains, that parents can be involved with.

In KS2, whenever a child reads a book during the morning independent read, they record it in their diaries. Whenever a child is benchmarked, has a YARC assessment, Toe-by-Toe intervention, the adult will record it in their reading diary. Parents are also encouraged to write in the diary but we expect this less as they become more independent readers.

Diaries are checked every week by the class teacher. Every time a child has read at home that week (maximum of three), the teacher records in on the racing reading track in the diary. Once a child has read 25 times at home they receive a bronze reading award. Silver is 50. Gold is 75 and there is a special Governor’s Award (110 reads) where the children receive a book and a special certificate is an assembly at the end of the year.

Parent Partnership:

We highly value the parents and carer within our community. We know they want the absolute best for their children and will help anyway they can.

• Training Videos: Because of this, we offer regular RWInc. training for parents to help them support their children at home. The sessions are recorded by the class teachers so parents can access at a time convenient to them.
• Virtual Schools: Once a week, the classroom teachers share a video online with parents that shows the sounds they have been learning that week. These videos are produced by RWInc. and they are of an incredibly high quality. Children are expected to watch one of these videos a week at home with a parent.
• Sharing Assessments: As we see parents are partners, we want to celebrate the progress the children are making. Every time a child is assessed, this is shared with the parents (along with any necessary jargon-busting).
• Home Activities: Each half-term, an activity is stuck into each child’s reading diary. This activity has been carefully constructed to allow parents to engage with their children’s reading. The reading lead makes a video at their launch to explain to parent’s what is expected.

“Reading is like reality. Anything can happen, anyone can happen. At any time or place – Alfie Y5