Reading is one of the most necessary of all basic skills and this journey begins in Nursery/Reception!

We encourage all children to read with an adult or older sibling for at least 10 minutes every night.

Early Readers

Early readers should read books together with an adult, both following the text and the pictures. They should also regularly listen to stories being read to them. After they have finished reading they should discuss:

• What was the story about?
• Who were the characters?
• Did they like/ dislike the story & why? 

Developing readers

Developing readers should read to an adult or older sibling everynight. They should find some of the words in the book easy to read, and others a bit more challenging. If they get stuck on a word they should use the following 'tools' to help them:

- Use their knowledge of letters and sounds to sound out the word (eg: 'c'  'a'  't'  =  "cat")

- Use the pictures on the page to help them work out a difficult word.

- Use their knowledge of other words that sound similar to help them work it out (eg: 'frog' sounds like 'dog')

At this reading stage, your child should also start to pick out familiar words, also known as 'key words'. Key words are learnt separately.​​​​​ (see below)

Key words

There are 45 key words that your child should be able to read by the end of the Reception year.

Most of the words your child will be able to 'sound out' to read using their understanding of letters and sounds, but some of the words are 'tricky words' that cannot be sounded out. Your child must be able to recognise and read these words confidently. 

See the documents below for relevant key words and activities.