At Stoke Row Church of England Primary School, we aim for every child to leave our school with a love of reading.  Reading is central to a child’s learning, enabling them to access the curriculum but also so does so much more.

• Reading improves concentration – Children have to sit still and quietly so they can focus on the story when they’re reading. Reading also relaxes the body and calms the mind whilst also exercising the connections in the brain.
• Reading teaches children about the world around them – Through reading, they learn about people, places and events outside their own experience.
• Reading develops a child’s general knowledge.
• Reading improves a child’s vocabulary, leads to more highly-developed language skills and improves the child’s ability to write well.
• Children learn new words as they read as well as seeing how to structure sentences and how to use language effectively.
• Reading develops a child’s imagination – When we read we translate the descriptions of people, places and things into pictures.
• Reading helps children develop empathy – When we’re engaged in a story, we imagine how the characters are feeling and use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation.
• Reading widely helps produce great writers- They draw on language, plot and character development and include this in their own writing.

The most important thing you can do to support your child’s education is to read to/with them as much as possible.

 Useful Websites:

• Books for Topics https://www.booksfortopics.coms

You can search by Key stage or topic.

• Oxford Owl Press http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk

Oxford Owl has expert advice, top tips and activity ideas so that you can help your child with reading and maths.

• Wordsforlife.org.uk http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/

Wordsforlife has lots of information about reading milestones, tips, fun activities for children to do and recommended reads for different ages.

• Booktrust www.booktrust.org.uk

Booktrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. The website has an extensive range of resources and support to help develop a love of reading. It also has an excellent ‘Bookfinder’ which helps children to find the next book to read by entering their age and interests.

• Reading Ahead https://readingahead.org.uk/

Reading Ahead is a national programme, run by The Reading Agency, which challenges you to choose six books to read, rate and review.

• Yakbooks by Reading Matters www.readingmatters.co.uk

Yakbooks is a website full of book reviews written by children and adults. There is a very useful tool called ‘Bookchooser’, which allows you to search for different genres of books based on set criteria.