Reading
Learn More About our Reading Curriculum
In order for children to be effective readers they need to be engaged in the wonder and purpose of the written word. A good reading culture is essential and that is what we aim to provide, by allowing children to access high quality texts across the curriculum; encounter rich & varied vocabulary and develop their comprehension skills.
Children are taught to read as soon as they start school. Their phonic knowledge and application needs to grow systematically alongside effective ways to learn non-decodable words. Through our chosen phonics program, ELS, children are taught sounds at a rapid pace and begin to apply their growing phonic knowledge by reading fully decodable books from the earliest stages. With regular practise and effective intervention if necessary, they make good progress and become fluent readers by the end of year one.
Children also need to be taught to read for meaning, and we teach them specific comprehension skills which they practise at more and more sophisticated levels as they progress through school.
In Key stage 2, developing key reading skills through high-quality teaching in whole class lessons is the priority for our children. In addition, studying whole texts develops children’s love of reading by giving them the opportunity to read and listen to books and authors they might not have chosen to read for themselves. We vary the content of our reading lessons to ensure that the children benefit from reading a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Children in year 3 are encouraged to complete the ‘reading challenge’ to encourage them to develop their breadth of reading while in years 4, 5 and 6, Accelerated Reader is used to track engagement and monitor progress closely.