As your child has recently entered year 5, we are writing to explain the arrangements for reading and spelling.  We try to encourage the children to become more independent readers as they approach the top end of the Junior School and they will therefore need to undertake private reading at home, as part of their homework.   We would like the children to read three to four times a week at home and to record the pages they have read in the reading journal they have been provided with. 

Your child’s English teacher will talk to them about different genres of books that they might enjoy and will help guide their reading choices.  Also every time they complete a book and complete a book review they will earn a leaf on our Reading Tree; after each five leaves they will achieve a ‘branch’ of the tree and there are certificates and rewards to accompany this.   We would recommend the website www.lovereading4kids.co.uk which contains recommendations of books, divided into age groups and is a valuable resource.  It also allows you to download short extracts of a book, so your child can get a feel for it before either buying it or borrowing it from our library.  You will need to create a login to use this facility, but it is completely free.  They have recently launched a sister site, where schools can set up their own linked page and add reading lists; we are currently working on this and will inform you when it is up and running.

Every week the children will have a reading lesson, where they will take it in turns to read with a teacher and their diary will be checked.  Your child’s teacher will check if their book is a suitable level for them. 

The children will no longer receive a weekly spelling list in year 5.  They will still have spelling lessons, but with an emphasis on the understanding of spelling patterns and the accurate application of these in their writing.  Their English homework will occasionally be a spelling activity reinforcing the work completed in class.  If you would like additional spelling support for your child, please do contact us.  The children will, from time to time, be tested on words they spell incorrectly, but this will be done on an individual basis.  They will also be assessed on how well they can identify and correct words from short passages – a key skill in this stage of KS2.