READING

‘I like reading adventure books – I get lost in them’  Year 5 child (MJS 2021).

‘You can read to calm yourself down, or to excite yourself – it depends what mood you are in’

Year 4 child (MJS 2021).

At Mundy Church of England Junior School, children are actively encouraged to read and various opportunities to read for pleasure are given throughout the school day. We want to encourage our children to read as often and as widely as possible. Reading is a vital skill! We want to encourage every child to read more often, to read more widely, and to find something they love reading. 

All our children select their own reading books (at their reading level) from our well-stocked school library  which offers them a wide range of genres - both fiction and non-fiction - to choose from. We believe that the ability to select books that interest them will encourage reading for pleasure in all our children, although adult guidance is also available if required.

High-quality texts are central to the teaching of reading at Mundy Junior School. We believe that laying the foundations for a life-long love of reading is core to the happiness of our children and we therefore promote this across all curriculum areas. The acquisition of vocabulary is fundamental to our approach to the teaching of reading, and as a support to develop reading comprehension and inference skills. It is also the foundation for encouraging reading for pleasure.

Regular whole class Guided Reading lessons focus on promoting pupils’ vocabulary knowledge and understanding, reading for enjoyment, developing reading stamina, and exploring texts to improve comprehension skills. Children are engaged in reading a variety of carefully selected books within a whole class setting. 

Whole class reading sessions mean that children of all attainment bands are immersed in the same high-quality literature and the discussions that these texts promote. The whole class can share the enjoyment of a particular text and learn from one another as well as the adults in the room. Children work in mixed-ability pairs to allow for paired discussion, and collaboration in the acquisition of new skills.

We explore the background context of the class book to build up the children’s knowledge which aids their comprehension and ability to build a ‘mental model’. Word-level vocabulary and dictionary work also takes place, focusing on words from the next chapter of the class book, allowing children to build up a repertoire of language that they can use to decipher texts. When listening to the text, extra meaning can be transferred through the (adult) reader’s expression, and the reader can stop to clarify the meaning or summarise, so no child is left behind in their understanding of what has just happened in the story.​​​​​​ 

Reading comprehension is an important skill that is taught to all children. Discussions about books and the skills needed to comprehend texts (deduction, inference, literal understanding, sequencing, making predictions, forming an opinion) take place within English and Guided Reading lessons, as well as in our wider curriculum lessons.

Our Library

We recognise reading as being the KEY to all learning so, at Mundy Junior School, it is our mission to nurture a love of reading where children become fluent, enthusiastic, independent and, most importantly, lifelong readers. Our well stocked and led library provides an excellent facility for children to develop their enjoyment of reading and is at the heart of our school. Staff guide pupils in finding suitable, enjoyable, and challenging books. Reading Buddies actively encourage and support reading throughout the whole school. Class Librarians promote reading by supporting the children’s use of our school library, sharing new book arrivals, and working closely with the School Librarian. We offer Book Clubs either at lunchtime or as afterschool clubs. Children can also participate in our school reading challenge and experience other reading competitions in order to keep the profile of reading high in our school. 

Click the link to take you to our school library page: Our Library