Curriculum Intent

Reading is a vital skill that will support children’s learning across the whole curriculum. As a school, we will ensure that our children are taught to read with fluency and understanding through a structured reading approach and cross-curricular learning opportunities.

Curriculum Implementation

Early Reading

We aim to start children’s reading journeys with a passion and enthusiasm for stories and books; alongside building their confidence in decoding and reading for themselves. The teaching of early reading starts with our youngest children in Nursery.

 In Nursery we:

• Prioritise high-quality adult-child led interactions and back and forth conversations.
• Deliver our curriculum through the use of carefully selected stories, songs and rhymes
• Share stories/ rhymes aloud every day
• Have adult and child- led activities that develop speaking, listening and oral blending

In Reception and KS1, children are exposed to quality shared reading. Through carefully selected stories and texts children encounter and explore vocabulary that they are unlikely to hear in everyday conversation. Learning poems, rhymes and songs allows children to join in gradually. Each repetition strengthens their vocabulary and embeds new words. Teachers are expert models of fluent reading when reading aloud for the children.

In order for all children to make a strong start in learning to read independently we have adopted the Soundswrite systematic phonics programme from Reception to Y6.

Children in Reception and KS1 take part in daily Soundswrite sessions. These sessions include three Sounds-Write lessons that will review prior learning, teach new learning and applying these to their reading and writing. Children are placed into keep up and catch up interventions where necessary.

Structured Reading Approach

Reading Fluency sessions

Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension. Hamman (2010) defined fluency as ‘Reading at an appropriate rate in meaningful phrases, with prosody and comprehension.

What is Fluency?

Throughout Y2 we teach the Phonics to Fluency Programme to teach fluency and comprehension skills. From Y3-Y5 each class will teach the Phonics to Fluency Programme to their class for the first half term.

For the rest of the year, fluency is taught daily as part of the reading cycle following the steps below, click for a larger version:

Comprehension lessons

‘Lessons should leave children with more knowledge and mental models.’ Alex Quigley

Before exposing children to a text as part of the reading cycle, we pre-teach and pre-empt barriers as ‘For struggling readers, the ‘before’ is the most important part to level the playing field.’ Alex Quigley

We do this by:

• FRAMING the text – consider how to activate prior knowledge and connect the text with past, present or future knowledge
• REMOVING BARRIERS – pre-empt difficult language & concepts and be prepared to explain when introducing the text

This allows the children to access the text in a way that allows them to develop and apply their reading skills. 

• In Year 1, we take a shared reading approach to teach fluency and comprehension using Reading Rocketeers texts. Children experience a daily reading lesson.
• In Y2 – Y3 (Autumn term), the Phonics to Fluency Programme is used to teach fluency and comprehension lessons. Children experience a daily reading lesson. We build in verbal comprehension style questions throughout the week using a range of reading strategies (Reading Beehive below)
• Y3 (Spring Term) – Year 6 use Reading Explorers, Classics and Top Class Comprehension texts where children experience close reading of a variety of genres including; fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Children experience a daily 45-minute reading lesson. Lessons are presented in a PowerPoint form throughout the week with progressive questions using a range of core reading skills.

The core reading skills we teach are:

• Vocabulary Development: Word Knowledge & Word Choice (Authorial Intent)
• The Retrieval of specific information
• Inference, including Deductive Reasoning
• Evaluative & Summative Assessment of text
• Study Skills that promote wider independent study

As a good reader draws on a range of these strategies at the same time, we teach children use a range of reading strategies simultaneously throughout our reading cycle. These are displayed and referred to during our daily reading lessons.

Home School Books

Each child is given books to read at home. Children are encouraged to read daily at home and reading records are used to be monitored by the class teacher.

In Reception and Y1 books are phonetically decodable at the child’s level. Children also choose a story book for pleasure for parents to read to them. Children who are unable to decode may be given wordless books to promote their story telling skills and language, alongside word cards and key words.

In Year 2, children transition from phonetically decodable books to the Accelerated Reader (AR) programme when ready.

We organise our AR level books into themes, so that children are able to select books that are of particular interest to them. Organising books in this way does not limit pupils and restrict them to only choosing unfamiliar books from a narrow level. Our children will now read within their wide AR reading range, books that will interest and inspire them to read widely and often. (Reading Framework 2023)

In Y2 – Y6 the children take home a book within their wide reading range, choosing from a vast selection of genres, themes and authors independently

Reading Aloud

Reading aloud is a frequent and regular part of each school day across the whole school. Reading aloud slows written language down and enables children to hear and take in tunes and patterns. Teachers model expert fluent reading. It enables children to experience and enjoy stories that they might not otherwise meet giving the children exposure to different places, times and cultures. It also improves the children’s language skills and vocabulary. 

All class teachers select a high- quality text to read aloud to their class. EYFS and KS1 expose the children to a range of traditional tales and pictures books. Our EYFS and Year 1 Reading Spines have been specifically selected to match the curriculum topics and to expose children to high quality, rich vocabulary.

KS2 overview

Curriculum Impact

Reading and writing are assessed and developed through the use of termly assessment task and ongoing formative teacher assessment. This information is tracked termly and is essential for teachers and senior leaders to analyse children’s progress and plan for those children needing specific support which is done through our pupil progress meetings. The impact of the curriculum is monitored by the subject leader, the English team and senior leaders and evidenced in an annual portfolio. The whole staff are encouraged to reflect on their practice to ensure.

Reading Documents

Document	Download
Reception-Y6 Reading Overview	Download