Reading Support

At Shelley, we believe that learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a child’s early education — and the journey begins well before they can read words on a page. One of the most powerful things you can do as a parent or carer is to read regularly with your child at home.

Reading together not only helps children develop vital literacy skills, such as vocabulary, phonics, and comprehension, but also builds confidence, sparks imagination, and nurtures a lifelong love of books. Just a few minutes each day can make a huge difference in your child’s progress and enjoyment of reading.

To support this development, our expectation is that all children read at home at least five times a week. This regular practice builds fluency, strengthens understanding, and helps embed the skills they are learning in school.

This page is designed to support you in making reading at home a fun, positive experience. Here, you’ll find tips, recommended books, phonics guidance, and practical activities that align with what your child is learning in school.

Together, we can give your child the strongest possible start on their reading journey — one story at a time.

Reading Together at Home 

Watch our EYFS Lead, Miss Howland, share a special moment reading with one of our early readers — showing simple, effective ways you can support your child’s reading at home. From asking questions to sounding out words together, every little interaction helps build confidence and a love of reading! 📖✨

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In EYFS, we’ve specially designed our 'Read and Reveal' sheets for our Reception children to make early reading both fun and effective! 🌟 This video shows how these sheets help children practise segmenting and blending sounds, with the excitement of flipping the picture for instant satisfaction. We use them in school to tailor phonics learning to each child — and we’ll also be sending them home so you can support your child’s reading journey every step of the way. 📖✨

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