As well as nurturing a love of reading and books, children are also taught a range of comprehension skills.

From Reception, children have guided reading sessions: reading a text in a small group with a member of staff. During these sessions, children are taught book language and understand how to answer a range of questions about the books they read. For example, asking who, what, where, why and how questions about characters and events.

From Year 2-6, children complete their guided reading as a whole class. The reading domains are referred to within our guided reading lessons using the 'VIPERS' acronym.

Writing

Children soon learn the importance of writing: seeing family and friends sending messages to each other, making notes and writing greetings cards, to name just a few ways that adults use writing as a permanent form of communication.

As soon as a child can hold a mark making tool, they are encouraged to make shapes and give them meaning. This starts in Nursery, when children are encouraged to draw and mark make and give those images/marks meanings by telling others what it says. Through a child's Early Years, they are taught that there are specific ways to make words using letters, and the words that are most important to a child begin to take shape (like learning to write their own name and as well as the words 'Mum' and 'Dad'). In the Early Years, the children are provided with a wide range of opportunities to practise their writing skills: painting, drawing, chalking, in play dough, with pencils and crayons and many more ways!

In Reception, children continue to develop their writing skills, learning to spell words and how to put words together to write a simple sentence. This skill is then continually built upon in each year group throughout their time in Primary School.