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Hove Junior School

Portland Road & Holland Road

"There is strong evidence of good systemic leadership and an aspirational culture, supporting strong outcomes for pupils and in raising standards for disadvantaged and SEND pupils" - Ofsted, February 2020

Reading

Success as a reader underpins learning in all areas of the school curriculum. Many pupils become successful readers and writers with the support of their family, friends and teachers.

 

Here at Hove Junior School we aim to help pupils become better readers across the curriculum and continue to build on their reading success from the infants through a range of skills based activities and opportunities to read for pleasure.

 

D.E.A.R Time

Your child will read regularly in class.  This will be either with an adult, a buddy, with the class, in a group or independently. Every week the children will take part in D.E.A.R time – ‘Drop Everything and Read’.  During this time, they will read independently or with a partner for 20 minutes. 

 

Also, they will have the opportunity to complete reading activities linked to their book in their journal or jotter. This is a time for the children to continue to develop a love of reading, recommend texts, build reading stamina and practise the reading skills they’ve learned in lessons.

 

Excellent Reading Provision at Hove Junior School

Recently the English team took a ‘Deep Dive’ into the current reading provision at our school. It was a pleasure to see the excellent provision available to all children. Here are some points to celebrate:

  • The increased quality teaching of reading skills in year 3 in line with the infants has raised the profile of reading and involves the teacher explicitly teaching reading skills every day.
  • We ensure each year group uses high quality and rich core texts to underpin the teaching of reading skills. Teachers write their own comprehension questions in line with the end of KS2 expectations linked to core texts.
  • As a school we pre teach vocabulary which enables all children to access the challenging and rich texts that are at the centre of our English curriculum. Sometimes the chapters/vocabulary are sent home and sometimes teachers work with groups of children to pre teach this during D.E.A.R time.
  • Differentiation and challenge is a particular strength. Key texts are specifically chosen or key questions and activities are planned to meet the needs of all children. The phonics groups in year 3 and focus reading groups in year 6 are particular examples of this. 
  • A love of reading is at the heart of our vision for reading across the curriculum.

Pupil Voice at Holland Road

Recent pupil feedback told us that the children wanted more challenging books in their book corners. Therefore, groups of children from each year group visited the Book Nook to select new and challenging books. These books are now in special book boxes in each class. They will be rotating these boxes each term so that the children regularly have access to new books which are age appropriate but challenging. Please see pictures below.