At Cedarwood Primary School, we want every child to become a confident, enthusiastic reader and, most importantly, to discover the pleasure that reading can bring.

Families have a vital role to play. Reading together, talking, playing and sharing new experiences all help to develop the vocabulary, knowledge and confidence children need for successful learning.

Top 10 Ways to Support Reading at Home

1. Read together every day
   Even 10–15 minutes of relaxed, enjoyable reading can make a difference.

2. Keep reading enjoyable
   Reading at home should be a positive experience. Praise effort, enthusiasm and perseverance.

3. Let your child choose
   Stories, information books, comics, graphic novels, poetry, magazines and joke books all count! Following children's interests can help create enthusiastic readers.

4. Read aloud to your child
   Children are never too old to enjoy being read to. Sharing more challenging books introduces new vocabulary, ideas and experiences.

5. Talk about what you read
   Wonder together about characters, events and new words. Ask what your child thinks rather than turning reading into a test.

6. Let your child see you reading
   Show that reading has a place in everyday adult life – whether you are enjoying a novel, following a recipe or reading the news.

7. Visit the library
   Regular library visits give children an opportunity to browse freely, discover new authors and choose books for themselves.

8. Make use of everyday reading
   Read recipes, signs, instructions, menus, maps, shopping lists and information together.

9. Talk, explore and experience
   Conversations, games, outings, cooking, nature walks and visits to interesting places all build children's vocabulary and knowledge of the world – important foundations for reading.

10. Celebrate progress
    Every child's reading journey is different. Notice improvements, encourage curiosity and help your child feel proud of their achievements.

Ideas for Different Ages

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

At this age, developing children's speaking, listening and enjoyment of stories is especially important.

Share picture books and favourite stories again and again. Encourage your child to join in with repeated phrases, talk about the pictures and retell familiar stories.

Enjoy nursery rhymes, songs and word games together. Listen for sounds in words and practise the phonics your child is learning at school.

Give your child plenty of opportunities to talk. Describe what you see on a walk, talk while cooking or shopping, and introduce interesting new words naturally.

Drawing, colouring, puzzles, building and other activities that develop children's coordination and hand strength can also help prepare them for writing.

Key Stage 1

As children become more independent readers, continue to read to them as well as listening to them read.

Support your child to use the phonics strategies taught at school when they encounter unfamiliar words. Give them time to think and try before stepping in to help.

Talk about stories and information books. You might wonder together:

What do you think will happen next?
Why do you think the character did that?
What was your favourite part? Why?
What does this word mean?
Did this book remind you of anything else?

Keep enjoying rhymes, poems, jokes and wordplay. Encourage writing for real purposes too – perhaps making lists, writing cards, creating stories or leaving notes for family members.

Key Stage 2

As children's reading becomes more fluent, encourage them to read widely and follow their interests.

Try different authors and genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biographies, newspapers and graphic novels.

Continue reading aloud together. Older children can still gain enormously from hearing an adult read a book that is more complex than something they might choose or manage independently.

Talk about ideas as well as events. Discuss why characters behave as they do, an author's choice of words, whether information seems reliable, or how a book connects with something your child already knows.

Encourage children to research subjects that interest them and to talk about what they have discovered.

When Your Child Is Reading to You

Choose a comfortable time and place with as few distractions as possible.

Give your child time to work out unfamiliar words and encourage them to use the strategies they have learned at school. If they are becoming frustrated, offer support so that the meaning and enjoyment of the book are not lost.

Most importantly, notice what is going well. A comment such as “I really liked the way you worked that word out” can be much more helpful than focusing on mistakes.

If your child is regularly finding reading difficult or becoming anxious about it, please speak to their class teacher. Home and school can work together to find the most helpful approach.

More Than Books

Supporting reading development isn't only about practising a school reading book.

Children develop as readers when they have opportunities to talk, listen, imagine, explore and discover.

It is essential that children learn to articulate the phonics sounds correctly in order to be able to use these to blend sounds for reading and segment sounds for writing.

Many people accidentally add a 'schwa' sound to the end of the phonemes, which distorts the sound and makes it harder for children to hear and say the 'pure' sound.  Take a look at the videos below, which show how to correctly pronounce the phonemes your children will learn at school.