Home Reading at Cramlington Village Primary School

At CVPS, we want every child to feel confident and inspired by reading. Books open doors—not only to learning across the curriculum, but also to curiosity, independence, and a lifelong love of stories. We know that reading is the key that helps unlock your child’s future success.

Sadly, research shows that children’s enjoyment of reading can drop as they get older. While around 64% of 2–4-year-olds love reading, by the end of primary school only half of children say the same. In England, just 29% of 10-year-olds say they really enjoy reading, compared to nearly half worldwide. Even more worrying, only 1 in 5 primary-aged children now read daily in their free time—the lowest figure since records began in 2005. Yet, we also know that children who do read regularly achieve much higher reading scores by secondary school.

That’s why we’re working hard at CVPS to make reading enjoyable and rewarding. We’ve invested in our school library, introduced a whole-school reading challenge, and developed a new reading curriculum to build both fluency (reading with pace and expression) and comprehension (understanding and talking about what has been read). In school, we use ERIC—Explain, Retrieve, Interpret and Choice—to help children respond to and think deeply about texts.

We’d love for you to continue this at home by asking simple questions as you read together, such as:

• Can you explain what’s happening in this part of the story?
• What do you think will happen next?

• How do you think the character is feeling? Why?

• Why do you think that character made that choice?
• What was your favourite part? Why?
• Does the book remind you of any other books that you have read?
• What does that word mean?

How you can help at home

• Homework expectation: Please read with your child for at least 10 minutes, three times a week using their Read Write Inc or Accelerated Reader book.
• Reading diaries: Teachers check diaries every Friday. For every 3 reads logged, your child earns a raffle ticket. At the end of each half term, one lucky reader will be chosen at random to win a £10 Waterstones voucher in our assembly raffle!
• Reading challenges: Every year group have their own Reading Challenge. Throughout the year, pupils aim to read all the books on their challenge card. Completing the challenge earns them a special surprise at the end of the year.

Together, by making reading a fun and a regular part of home life, we can help children not just to succeed—but to enjoy the magical world that books bring.

Reading at CVPS and how to support Reading at Home

Meet Archie the Reading dog and his handler Lesley.