At St. Bernadette’s, we are determined that every child will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. We aim to ensure that our children gain the discrete word-reading skills and comprehension required, as well as fostering a life-long love of reading by exposing them to diverse literature across all curriculum areas.
We believe that every child can learn to read with outstanding teaching and support. Reading is a key life skill and we strive to embed a culture of reading into the core of what we do, providing opportunities for children to read both independently and aloud as well as allowing them the chance to discuss and recommend books they have read to their peers. Reading and quality literature is implicitly interwoven into our curriculum through the use of carefully chosen texts. These texts introduce our children to a wide variety of genres and gifted authors and deepen their understanding of the exciting curriculum topics that we teach.
We believe reading opens up a new world for children and gives them the opportunity to explore new ideas, visit new and exciting places, meet new characters and develop a better understanding of other cultures. Building up the children’s vocabulary gives them the word power they need to become successful speakers and writers as well as confident readers. We acknowledge the vital role that parents can play in their child’s education and we strive to ensure that the culture of reading that the academy has developed extends into the home.
Our aspiration for each child is based upon the need for them to enter the next stage of their education as articulate and literate individuals with a strong love of reading. We fully embrace the responsibility to send our children onto secondary school having mastered at least the basic elements of reading. We will ensure that all children have equal access to the curriculum and those with specific reading, speech and language or hearing difficulties will be identified and supported appropriately.
