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At St George’s, we want all children to become confident readers throughout their time with us. This week, staff in school have taken part in training on phonics and reading with one of the Lancashire English Consultants. The training was brilliant and will support our staff to continue teaching and embedding the skills children need to become fluent readers — but, most importantly, to help every child develop a love of reading.

What can you do at home?

There are lots of simple and enjoyable ways you can support your child’s reading at home:

• Listen to your child read their school reading book every day. Give them time to sound out unfamiliar words and praise their efforts.

• Read to your child every day. Choose books, stories, comics or magazines that interest them. You don’t always have to read the whole book — talk about the pictures, characters and what might happen next.

• Talk about what you have read together. Ask questions, share your favourite parts and encourage your child to tell you what they think. Most importantly, have fun!

• Play phonics games at home. Practise recognising sounds, blending sounds together and spotting sounds in everyday words.

• Visit your local library. Let your child choose books that catch their interest and explore different types of stories and information books.

• Make reading part of everyday life. Encourage your child to read signs, shopping lists, recipes, menus, instructions and anything else they see around them.

• Let your child see you reading. Children learn from the adults around them, so seeing you enjoy a book, magazine or newspaper can help them understand that reading is something we do for pleasure.

• Keep reading enjoyable. A few minutes of happy reading each day is far more valuable than making reading feel like a chore.

Together, we can help our children become confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers who love books and reading!