Home Reading Scheme – Building a Love of Books

At Pear Tree Infant and Nursery School, we believe that every child deserves to discover the joy, wonder and adventure that books can bring. Our partnership with parents and carers is central to this, and we encourage families to make reading together a special and regular part of everyday life.

Each term, every child is invited to choose a special book to take home from our Book Vending Machine. This is our way of celebrating our children's love of reading and helping every child to begin building their own treasured collection of books at home.

We want children to see books as something to enjoy, explore, talk about and share. Reading regularly at home helps children to develop their fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and confidence, while also opening the door to new ideas, experiences and imagination.

We encourage parents and carers to read with their child, talk about stories, share favourite books and celebrate their progress. These precious moments together make a lasting difference and help children to develop a positive relationship with reading.

At Pear Tree, reading is our passion and one of our greatest strengths. We are determined that every child will become a confident, enthusiastic reader who loves books and understands the wonderful worlds that reading can open up.

Every child. Every book. Every opportunity to fall in love with reading.

 

Book Vending Machine. Choose, Celebrate, Read!

We are incredibly proud of our Book Vending Machine, which brings a real sense of excitement and joy to reading at Pear Tree!

At the end of each term, every child has the opportunity to choose a special book to take home. It is a wonderful way to celebrate their reading achievements and encourage children to see books as something to treasure.

As children progress through Pear Tree, they can build their very own home library, with every child receiving at least 10 books during their time with us.

We love seeing children proudly choosing their next book, sharing their excitement and taking their reading home to enjoy with their families.

Read. Choose. Celebrate. Repeat!

http://www.webuybooks.co.uk/ - this is a great source for second hand books! 

  

Story Time. A Daily Love of Books.

At Pear Tree infant & Nursery school, story time is at the heart of our school day. Every afternoon at 3pm, children come together to enjoy a carefully chosen story read aloud by their teacher. We protect this special time because we know that sharing stories every day can inspire a lifelong love of reading.

Story time is about so much more than listening to a book. It gives children the opportunity to discover new worlds, meet new characters, develop their imagination and hear rich, ambitious language. It encourages children to talk, question, predict, share ideas and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.

We want children to leave Pear Tree with cherished memories of stories and books and a genuine desire to read for themselves.

Reading at Home Matters Too

We strongly encourage parents and carers to make time for stories and reading at home. Even ten minutes of shared reading every day can make a real difference. Talk about the pictures, ask your child what they think might happen next, share your favourite stories and, most importantly, enjoy the experience together.

You don't always need to read the words, talk about a book, telling a story or sharing a favourite rhyme all count.

At Pear Tree, we believe that when school and home share a love of books, children become confident, enthusiastic readers for life.

Every day. Every story. Every child a reader.

Parent Engagement, Supporting Early Reading and Writing

We recognise that parents are our children’s first and most important educators, and that strong home–school partnerships are particularly important as children begin their Reception journey.

Our new Reception parent meeting focused on how parents can make a real difference to their child’s early reading and writing development. We explored the importance of hearing and saying sounds, blending them to read unfamiliar words, and developing children’s confidence to express ideas in simple sentences.

Parents were given practical strategies they can use every day at home, helping them to support learning in a way that feels positive, manageable and enjoyable. We emphasised that short, regular opportunities to talk, read and write together can have a significant impact on children’s confidence, vocabulary and early literacy skills.

By working together from the very beginning of Reception, we are building a shared approach between school and home and giving every child the strong foundations they need to become a confident reader, writer and communicator.

We Love to Read. Wherever We Are!

At Pear Tree Infant & Nursery School, a love of reading can happen anywhere! Whether we are curled up with a book, enjoying a story outdoors, sharing a favourite text with a friend or discovering a new character together, we make every opportunity count.

Every place can be a reading place, and every story can spark imagination, conversation and a lifelong love of books.

Reading Outdoors

Children have regular opportunities to enjoy their favourite books within our outdoor provision, choosing texts that interest and excite them. This creates natural opportunities for children to develop their love of reading, language, imagination and communication as they share stories, revisit familiar books and talk about what they discover.

Pear Tree Infant & Nursery Reading Extravaganza!

Celebrating our love of books, stories and reading together! Our Reading Extravaganza events bring children, families and the wider Pear Tree community together to celebrate the joy of reading and inspire every child to become a confident, enthusiastic reader.

Developing a Love of Reading from the Start

Our Nursery children have access to a rich range of books and reading resources throughout their provision. They are encouraged to choose, explore, share and revisit books, developing their language, imagination, vocabulary and enjoyment of stories from the very beginning of their learning journey.

Our New Pear Tree Library

 A Place Where Reading Comes Alive

As we move into our brand-new school building in November 2026, one of the things we are most excited about is our new purpose-built school library, a very special space designed with our love of reading at its heart.

For Pear Tree Infant & Nursery School, a library is so much more than a room filled with books. It is a place of wonder, discovery, imagination and possibility. It is where children can lose themselves in a story, discover new worlds, meet unforgettable characters, ask questions, develop their ideas and begin to see themselves as readers.

When planning our new school, leaders were clear that reading must have a special place within our new environment. We have deliberately prioritised a dedicated library because we know that developing a genuine love of books and reading can shape children’s learning, language, confidence and future opportunities. We want every child at Pear Tree to grow up knowing that books matter, stories matter and their voice matters.

Our new library will provide a beautiful, inspiring and welcoming space where children can browse, choose, read, share and talk about books. It will be a place where children are surrounded by rich language, exciting stories and carefully chosen texts that reflect the diversity of our school community while opening doors to experiences beyond their own.

Most importantly, we want children to feel that the library belongs to them – a place they are excited to visit, proud to be part of and eager to return to.

We cannot wait to see the finished space come to life and begin filling it with wonderful books, joyful conversations and unforgettable reading moments.

Our new library is more than a new space. It represents our ambition for every child to become a reader, a thinker, a dreamer and a lifelong lover of books.

Pictures coming soon… as we move into our beautiful new school!

 

 

Reading Buddies

Our Reading Buddies support pupils’ comprehension and understanding of the texts they read. They help children to make meaningful links between their own experiences and stories, strengthening connections across their learning.

The Reading Buddies also act as prompts during reading, encouraging pupils to ask questions, make predictions and think more deeply about what might happen next. This supports the development of key early reading skills and promotes active engagement with texts.

Parents and carers are encouraged to ask children about the Reading Buddies, including who the characters are and how they help them with their reading at school.

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