Our Vision

At Phillimore Primary School, we want our children to develop a love of reading. We believe that reading should be a fundamental part of childhood and a skill which should be developed to support lifelong learning.

Our aim is to develop and embed a strong, sustainable reading culture within the school community.  Confident and competent readers will foster a love of reading through a rich and varied experience of texts, in which they are empowered to exercise freedoms of choice and independence. We encourage them to view reading as a social activity through which they can relate to and empathise with perspectives other than their own. Our Reading for Pleasure practice is informed by research from The Open University and the UK Literacy Association’s ;Teachers as Readers’ study. We want all adults and children at Phillimore Primary School to feel they are part of our Community of Readers

Implementation of Reading for Pleasure Practice at Phillimore Primary School.

Social Reading Environments

Reading Aloud

Independent Reading

Informal Book Talk, inside-text talk and recommendations

Social Reading Environments

Pupils at Phillimore Primary School have access to a large variety of books and texts in different spaces, including the library and book areas in every classroom.

Readmore @ Phillimore happens every Wednesday

Reading Aloud

Pupils benefit from having class stories read aloud to them every day.

Pupils regularly have opportunities to read aloud in lessons during fluency sessions, book study lessons and sharing non-fiction text reading in the wider curriculum.

Independent Reading

Pupils have time in class to read independently during our Readmore sessions.

Pupils also have the opportunity to take a book home to read at home.

Informal Book Talk, inside-text talk and recommendations

Teachers display which children’s book they are currently reading on their classroom door to encourage book chat between teachers and pupils

Each class has a ‘reading journal’ which showcases stories recommended by pupils in each class.

We have a collection of books for children to share and read outside at playtimes.

Agreed principles set for Informal Book Talk:

• This can be done during Reading Aloud sessions and Independent reading time.
• This is planned for.
• Focus on children’s emotional responses/ likes/ dislikes. Make sure children know it’s safe to say ‘I don’t like it because.’ It’s Okay to have personal opinions about texts.
• Ask questions- What are you reading at the moment? What do you think about it?
• Use opportunistic moments to ask questions- gaps between classes, lining up etc.
• Hold a ‘Book Blether’ each week/ fortnight to share recommendations to the whole class.
• 3 word book reviews/ 5 star ratings/ Top three read in the past month.