2026 National Year of Reading - Go All In! - Find out more on our reading page.

Reading

Getting children reading from their earliest days
"Reading and sharing stories brings profound and wide-ranging benefits that can have a lifelong positive impact on the lives of children of all ages and backgrounds." Book Trust 2026 

The Benefits of Reading as Children Grow


Reading is at the heart of everything we do at Wootton Bassett Infants' School. Every classroom has a well-resourced, up to date, stimulating, book corner which contains a wide range of text types. We have a 'treehouse' library for all children to enjoy and share a love of reading.
Books are displayed and shared in classrooms and around school to engage children and support topic work.  All classes plan using a topic-based approach which is either based on or supported by key texts. The key texts are displayed in classrooms so that links and comparisons can be made. Most of the written work produced by the children is directly related to and supported by the texts that have been read. Our genre map ensures that there is a balance between fiction, non- fiction and poetry.

You will find more information about our Reading Progression maps in knowledge and skills. 

Wootton Bassett Infants' School Reading Skills Progression
Reading is known to:
• Help children’s well-being and self- esteem 
• Enables children to do better at school and make more progress across the curriculum
• Develops empathy and creativity
• Exposures children to more vocabulary which in turn improves their language and literacy outcomes, their confidence and their communication skills.
For more information on the benefits of reading click here Book Trusts Benefit of Reading

Reading Scheme 

We promote a 'phonics first' approach and in both our guided reading sessions at school and in the books children take home. Texts are very closely matched to a child's current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading.

We use decodable books from Big Cat Collins and Ransom Reading Stars Phonics to support our phonics scheme, Unlocking Letters & Sounds. More information regarding how we teach phonics can be found here: Phonics


Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto our book scheme and free choice books so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.

What's in your child's bookbag?

  • Every child has a fully decodable book and a reading for pleasure book from the classroom or 'Treehouse' Library
  • The decodable book is for your child to read to you
  • The other book is for you to read and enjoy with your child
  • We encourage re-reading decodable books 3 times - for decoding, fluency and comprehension/understanding
  • A reading record book with guidance for you to help with your understanding of how your child learns to read and how you can support them

Being able to read is fundamental to education and proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for children to be successful learners. Here at WBIS, we aim to create successful and enthusiastic readers and we believe that parents and carers can play a major part in this success.

Please listen to your child read everyday even if it is for 10 minutes - every minute and every word counts!

Reading Charter 2025-26
Children who are not supported in their reading at home, or require extra support, are identified as priority readers who will read as often as possible during the week at school. 
The children also take part in small group guided reading sessions, shared reading and whole class guided reading. Texts are chosen based on the phonics phase the children are on. Guided reading sessions are planned to develop accurate decoding, fluency and comprehension with specific reading tasks set for the children who are working independently during these sessions. Purple Mash is used to reinforce specific reading skills, while book reviews, grammar, vocabulary and comprehension activities are completed independently during guided reading sessions.

This video shows a parent reading a phonics book with an EYFS child Sharing a Phonics Book
This video shows a parent sharing a reading for pleasure book Sharing a reading for pleasure book

Two key reading initiatives are encouraged across the school:
• 100 books to read before you leave WBIS aims to encourage reading for pleasure as they are all books that are highly regarded and are books that the children are encouraged to share at home.  These are also sometimes used as key texts that we explore through topic work, assemblies and reading to the children at the end of the day. These books are available from school and through Wootton Bassett library who work with us to ensure the texts are available and sometimes displayed. We have used the book covers to create butterflies which are displayed in the school library and some classrooms to highlight the initiative. The children receive a small prize from Mrs Pass for every 20 reads on the list.
50 Books to read before leaving WBIS - Part 1         50 Books to read before leaving WBIS - Part 2
• The Reading Raffle hopes to encourage all parents to read with their child 5 times a week and record those reads in their child’s reading record book. A winner from each class receives a special prize and a treat from Mrs Pass at the end of each term and they are celebrated in assembly and on the newsletter.

We also deliver a phonics and early reading workshop annually to inform parents about how we teach phonics and reading; the importance of reading and our expectation for reading. 
Reading Presentation for Parents

Pre- school children from the local area are invited into school for reading sessions with different staff and they are encouraged to borrow books from the school library. 

All teachers read to their classes every day. Books are chosen by teachers and children and reflect new books, classics, non -fiction and poetry. We enjoy a Book Week in March (to celebrate World Book Day) where the children receive a World Book Day token. They also visit the local library and are encouraged to take part in a book swap in our own school library.

Poetry plays a huge part in the work we do in school. We have created a poetry spine so that each year group is exposed to wonderful rhymes and stories in school - more information can be found here Wootton Bassett Infants' School Poetry Spine

Trips and events in school are often book related such as visiting theatre groups, the KS1 trip to the Watermill Theatre and the end of year play which all KS1 children take part in. Our EYFS children tell the story of the Nativity at Christmas. West End in Schools visit annually to help us to celebrate World Book Day through dance. 

The school library is timetabled, and groups use it regularly.

© Wootton Bassett Infants' School