Reading at Home
Reading with your child is one of the most powerful things you can do to support their learning. Just a little reading each day makes a big difference! Short, regular reading sessions help children grow in confidence, fluency, and enjoyment—so aim for little and often.
Most importantly, reading should be enjoyable. Laugh, talk, wonder, and linger over pages together. If a page sparks conversation or curiosity, take your time—those moments matter just as much as reading the words themselves.
Ways to make reading fun:
- Encourage your child to pretend to read stories before they can read the words—this builds confidence and a love of books.
- Visit the library regularly and enjoy choosing books together.
- Create a special daily reading routine—after school, after dinner, or just before bed.
- Share books in any language—stories and conversations build a love of reading no matter the language.
- Follow your child’s interests—whether that’s dragons, insects, cookery, or sport.
- Keep books easy to reach around the house so reading feels natural and inviting.
St Agnes Expectations
At St Agnes, we expect every child to read daily with an adult. This should be recorded in your child’s reading record, as this helps us support their progress in school.
Remember, reading isn’t just about saying the words—it’s about talking, thinking, imagining, and exploring new ideas together. Your encouragement at home makes a lasting difference, and we truly value your partnership in helping every child become a confident, enthusiastic reader.
Accelerated Reader
Children in key stage two participate in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. The AR program is an effective way of giving older children more independence in their choice of reading material whilst still enabling us to track and promote reading very effectively here at St Agnes.
But what should my children read?
It is important that children read books they love and books that interest them. However, it is also important that the books they read challenge and support the development of the child’s language and ideas.  In key stage one children are given books according to their colour band and in key stage two texts are matched to their accelerated reader level.
Reading Eggs
Across the school, Reading Eggs is used as an online resource to support children in learning to read. Each term the children take a placement test which places them at the appropriate reading level, this then accurately challenges the children with a range of engaging spelling, phonics and reading games/lessons.
KS1 Reading Bears
At the beginning of Key Stage One, each child adopts a reading bear with the promise to read to their bear for 15 minutes per night minimum. Throughout the year, the children are invited to bring their bear back to school for special story times and events.