Whole Class Reading

At Tor Bridge Primary School, the books we select for our Whole Class Reading programme complements and support the curriculum where appropriate.
For example, in Year 5, a project linked to Space, ‘Mission to Mars’, provides essential background information and justification for the events in ‘The Jamie Drake Equation’ by Christopher Edge, one of the last books read by Year 5.
In Year 4, the in-depth study of the Early Egyptian Civilisation provides essential background knowledge in order for children to develop a schema and create interconnection when later reading ‘Secrets of a Sun King’ by Emma Carroll.

Through in-depth discussions, debates and questioning, children develop schema for core knowledge and values that are transferable. In Year 6, ‘Wonder’ is studied, with discussions centred on the mistreatment of someone because of how they look. This knowledge, and the empathy shared through the text, is ‘tapped into’ when they discuss prejudice, persecution and discrimination when learning about the Holocaust. Same concept: different context.