Supporting your child with reading
The sooner a child learns to read, the sooner they become independent learners, however, it is
important to recognise that some children find the journey easier than others. As some of you are
aware, I couldn’t read until I was 12 years old, I cope with dyslexia, the process of learning to
read was extremely challenging. On a positive note I went on to gain a first class honours degree
and have run a beautiful school for twenty years…everything is possible, with time, patience,
love and support. The learning difficulties I experienced made me far more aware of the
experience of those struggling to learn (one of the reasons why we offer so many enrichment
experiences is that it allows all children, of all abilities, opportunities to experience success in
different fields of endeavour).
As parents, you are without a doubt the most important people in your child’s life, you are their
primary educator. Whilst we listen to children read at school regularly, spending time reading
with you is crucial to their attainment and their enjoyment. We need to steer our children away
from comparing themselves to each other, there will always be people who find things easier and
harder, we all get there in the end, instead we should help them enjoy their successes and support
them with their challenges.
Here is our aide memoire for supporting your child with reading. If you have queries please speak
to your child’s class teacher.
Emergent readers and readers building confidence
Initially children need to have the same book for a couple of days to build fluency and
success of reading for the child.
Begin by reading the title of the book together
Look at the cover and discuss what it may be about
At Springmead we follow a systematic phonic approach to reading, in line with
government guidance. Children follow a phonic programme which is in phases 1-6.
Children should read books at the stage they are working. Children should be able to
decode the words in the book alongside key sight words, relevant to their phase. This
should be your main focus for reading.
However we recognise that children learn to read in different ways such as:
Using picture clues
Using word recognition and the shape of the words
Semantic clues (likely meaning)
Syntactic clues (grammar knowledge)
Remember that reading needs to be fun, short bursts of focused time and re-reading texts for
enjoyment, success, expression and fluency are essential.
If you are unsure of the phonic sounds please use these videos for reference:
Single letter sounds- https://youtu.be/kb7DLNGxgR4
Digraphs- https://youtu.be/T3qq2Rgzm84
Complex digraphs- https://youtu.be/JezDNgssyD8
Trigraphs- https://youtu.be/fr49CKT8hWE