Progression of Performance Reading

Throughout the school, we encourage and develop the use of ‘performance voices’ when reading aloud. Fluent oral reading learned through performance reading leads not only to engagement in and enjoyment of reading, but also to reading comprehension.

Our youngest children in Reception will learn to retell stories using their best performance voice even before they begin to read. Children across the school enjoy reading aloud from fiction, non-fiction and poetry appropriate to their stage of development. Children of all ages read individually, in pairs, groups or even as a class.

Regular modelling by adults is vitally important and ‘echo reading’ is a useful strategy which we use to help children develop their expressive, fluent reading. By reading a short segment of text, sometimes a sentence or short paragraph, and the children echoing it back, the children generally make rapid progress in developing their own performance voice.

Links are made with writing as the children are encouraged to use their performance voices as they share their final ‘polished’ written outcomes. In this way, we can enjoy their writing – read as the author intended. Indeed, when sharing books much discussion around the intent of the author takes place. In this way, children learn the importance, not only of accurate reading, but of fluent and expressive reading. Hence, they develop a life-long love of literature.