At Ripple, we want our pupils to read through choice, not direction, so reading for pleasure is something we promote across the whole school in the hope that each pupil becomes a lifelong reader. A child who enjoys reading becomes a child who reads frequently and reading enjoyment has been found to be more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status (OECD, 2002). We therefore believe that establishing a shared culture where reading for pleasure is a natural, everyday occurrence amongst pupils and staff is vital to working towards helping all pupils achieve their full potential.

Children are given multiple opportunities across the school week to select their own reading materials in both print and electronic form, and the interesting, engaging and vibrant fiction and non-fiction books from Little Wandle Big Cat play a large part in helping all pupils discover a love of reading.         

Across all areas of the curriculum, our pupils are exposed to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts which are carefully chosen to ensure there is a variety of high quality, diverse reading materials which engage, entertain, educate and appeal to all pupils. Each classroom has an inviting, attractive and informative reading area, from which our pupils can select a book to read individually or with a friend.  

Ripple pupils are encouraged to read independently as frequently as possible, both in school and at home. We ask that parents, carers and family members support the school by helping their children to engage in their reading. In turn, we aim to assist our families by helping them understand how to read to or with their children by inviting them to parent workshops and open mornings. We ask that comments on how the child has read are recorded in the individual reading records by an adult in EYFS and KS1 and by an adult or the child in KS2 at least four times a week.  

Our pupils will bring home two books a week. The first is a ‘reading practice’ book and the second will be a ‘sharing’ book.