I hope that you have had a good weekend.

I cannot emphasise the importance of hearing your child read every day, as encouraged through our homework policy. Being able to read is so important to being able to access the whole of the curriculum. It is so frustrating and very sad that nearly one in five of the UK population are so poor at reading and writing that they cannot read a medicine label or use a chequebook.

I can’t remember how I learnt to read at school but remember being read to every day at school by one of my teachers, Mrs Hindson. She read a variety of books to us at the end of the day on the class carpet, from a variety of genres including Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and The Hobbit. She really encouraged us to have a love for literature and develop an enquiring mind by asking lots of questions about what we were reading. It has also been lovely to see my own niece (who is 6 years old) learn to read. She is developing every day and it has been amazing to see how the teaching of phonics and the sounding out of words in the early years, has allowed her to use these skills to access a number of texts with confidence.

At Chantry, we have a big emphasis on the importance of reading. This week is our annual Book Fair. All the children will have a time to visit the fair with their teacher during the next three days and will have the opportunity to buy a book. I do hope that they will take the opportunity to do this as Mrs Inverarity has promised me there will be a fantastic range of books on the shelves. I have to admit I do like to see a child with a book in their hands, rather than reading on a Kindle or from a computer screen. The school will receive commission on any books sold and in return we will purchase books for our own class libraries and to use in lessons.

Since January, the Three Rivers Learning Trust has introduced the Accelerated Reader scheme in Year 5 at Chantry and in Year 9 at The King Edward High School. This will be rolled out to all year groups at Chantry in September 2015. Please click here to find out more information on the Accelerated Reader scheme.

Next week, Mrs Inverarity will be taking a group of children to the North East Teenage Book Awards at the Centre for Life on Thursday evening. They will have the opportunity to meet a number of authors and ask them questions about their books. I do hope they have a good evening!

You should have received your child’s first progress report today through email. You have the opportunity to see your child’s subject teachers at Parent’s Evening on either Tuesday 3rd February or Thursday 12th February. Please read the letter sent out via your child for more information.

With best wishes for the coming week

Steven Johnson