Reading at S.M.I.T.H
At St. Michael in the Hamlet Primary School we are passionate about reading! We work hard to develop a rich reading culture so that every child discovers a love of reading that will stay will them throughout their lives. We have lots of different ways of promoting reading in every area of school life, for example –
- The Reading Hutch
- Family learning – The ‘Booknic’
- Lunch time book club
- The Reading Challenge
- The Read for Good Readathon
- Sip and Swap coffee mornings
- Lending Library
- Home reading challenge
Each year group uses high quality texts as part of a diverse book spine, which enables the children to experience a multitude of genres.
Each class has an inviting reading area and we have our own school library: children can access both of these at various times during the week.
We absolutely love reading here at S.M.I.T.H. 
World Book Day 2023
We had a fabulous World Book Day on 2nd March! Everyone made a massive effort, with some brilliant outfits from children and adults!
The children were so inspired by our visiting author Khan Odita. We used his first book in every year group for our English and foundation lessons for the day.
Some children, who have been working really hard on their reading, were lucky enough (brave enough) to have tea with Miss Trunchbull!
We also launched the Book Hutch. A special place for books and magazines that our children can use at playtime.
PRIMARY_national_curriculum English
Pathways – reading and spoken language overview
The following documents show progression in reading across the school, describing what a child should be able to do to reach age related expectations at the end of each year group.
Lots of our children and families took part in the Read for Good readathon, raising money to provide books and storytellers for children in hospital by doing sponsored reads. We are very proud to say they raised over £1000!
Early Reading
We want our pupils’ passion and engagement with books to start from an early age. Take a look at the padlet for our reading challenges – this is where we capture our pupils and their families love of books and reading. It is a lot of fun!
https://padlet.com/vsheffield/vnhgfon6oc1gteye
Here are some pictures from our ‘Reading in Unusual Places’ competition 2022-
