The Ministry of Education’s website is an excellent resource and has lots of reading advice for parents for each year group. Please click on the button below to find out more. Whatever you do at home keep it fun and enjoyable and remember to be a reader too. You are a powerful role model for your child!

Pause Prompt Praise

Our junior students usually bring a familiar reading book home to read to you. This video gives you tips for how to help your child with this home learning.

As your child’s reading skills develop they may only have part of a story or book to read each night. Even though your child is learning to read themselves, continue reading to them regularly, e.g., bedtime stories, family chapter book, library visits.

Once your child is a competent decoder (often about Year 3), there is no need for them to have a school reading book each night. However regular independent reading at home is still very important. Set up a routine of 15-20 minutes of reading per night building to 30 minutes in Year 6-8.

Halswell School Library

We have a very well resourced library run by our fantastic librarian, Zac MacCullum. Encourage your child to use our library blog to ind out about all the exciting things that are happening in our library, read book reviews, watch book trailers and author videos, enter competitions and write comments about their reading preferences. They can also search the catalogue and reserve books through the library website.

Click to access library website