Reading at Romans Field School
At Romans Field School, we see reading as a vital life skill. Our goal is to help every child develop a love of reading so they can become confident, lifelong readers. We know that reading is key to academic success, and so we take a holistic approach to teaching it.
We provide children with a wide range of opportunities to read for both learning and pleasure across the curriculum. In the early stages, children read books linked to the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme. As their confidence grows, they can become “free readers,” choosing from thousands of titles in our school library. In addition, teachers regularly share high-quality texts from the Romans Field reading spine, ensuring children experience stories beyond their independent reading level.
To encourage a positive reading culture, we run a variety of initiatives such as our Reading Ambassadors programme, Books Over Breakfast, World Book Day celebrations, delving deeper into different Author, Visiting authors, and the Reading Raffle.
Early Reading and Phonics
To support early reading and spelling development, we follow the highly successful Read Write Inc. programme. This teaches children to:
- recognise letters by their sounds
- blend sounds to form words
- read these words in meaningful stories
Families can find links to resources that support phonics and reading practice at home.
Our Reading Pathways
At Romans Field, we offer three pathways: shared, structured, and scaffolded.
- Shared pathway: For our early communicators who are not yet ready for phonics. Children follow our Phase One Reading Progression document and pre-reading activities. Communication and interaction are a strong focus, embedded in all they do. Pre-reading skills include sound discrimination, rhythm, alliteration, voice sounds, and oral blending and segmenting.
- Structured and scaffolded pathways: These provide progressively more support and challenge as children develop their reading fluency and comprehension.
Working with Families
We greatly value the role families play in supporting children’s reading. This partnership makes a real difference. Every child will take home a reading book. We ask that children read with an adult at least four times each week for around ten minutes. This can be reading to an adult, reading alongside them, or listening to an adult read aloud. Talking about what your child has read—whether it’s a book, magazine, or comic—helps to build strong comprehension skills.
To celebrate home reading, each half term, a winner is drawn, and those children can choose a book from our prize selection.
Parental support-
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=read+write+inc
Our Commitment
We believe the more children read and share books with adults, the stronger their reading skills will become. This has a huge impact on their confidence and academic success.
We also recognise that reading at home is not always easy for every family. We are here to help and support in any way we can. In addition, The Book Trust provides helpful tips and guidance for families to encourage reading at home.
Curriculum Lead is Mrs Edwards
