English - Reading

Curriculum Intent

At the heart of our curriculum, we aim for children to have a deep love of reading and to develop a wide vocabulary through exposure to a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. Through access to a range of genres and authors, both classic and current, our children develop efficient skills which equip them for the next stage of their schooling and lives beyond St Richard's CE Primary School. 

Curriculum Implementation

Reading Lessons

Once children have successfully completed the Read Write Inc phonics programme, their reading skills are further developed and applied in daily reading lessons. Lessons focus on the following comprehension skills:

• Vocabulary
• Infer
• Predict
• Explain
• Retrieve
• Summarise and Sequence

Children use a rich diet of texts to learn and practise these skills to gain a deeper understanding of the text and its relevant themes.

Class Texts

From children's start in the Early Years, reading is taught through a whole class approach using a core quality text as a stimulus. In KS1 and Ks2, the use of these texts link reading and writing together, creating contextualised and dynamic English lessons. The class texts are carefully chosen, and where appropriate linked, to help broaden children's vocabulary and their knowledge of topics studied elsewhere in the curriculum. There is also a focus on diversity in the selection of authors.  

Core Text Overview

Reading for Pleasure

Our love for reading is celebrated and given high priority at our school. Our children are given the opportunity to read across all subjects in the curriculum and are given time to read independently every day.  Author visits, library trips, World Book Day celebrations, book fairs, visits to local bookshops, reading competitions and buddy reading are just some of the activities our children engage in to inspire their reading and writing.

Throughout the school, dynamic and engaging reading displays and book areas promote a love of reading and encourage our children to read for pleasure.

In the Early Years and Key Stage 1, children are set the 'Dream Reads' challenge to read 25 books across each school year from a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Books have been selected using recommended titles from Books for Topics. Parents are encouraged to share these books with their child at bedtime, to promote a love for reading. 

In Key Stage 2, children are set the 'Reading Tree' challenge, again to read 25 books across each school year. All children across all phases, are given a checklist to keep track of the books they have read, with prizes awarded to children who complete the list for their year group.  

All children are encouraged to recommend books to their friends by writing reviews on stars or leaves to display in their classrooms to promote a strong culture of reading. 

Reading at Home

All children will take home either a Read Write Inc. Book Bag Book or a text from our coloured book band system, matched to their reading ability. They will also have a reading for pleasure text, which they have chosen independently. The reading for pleasure text may not be matched to a child's reading level and so can be shared with a parent at home. 

 It is an expectation that all children read daily at home and this is monitored closely by class teachers. 

We believe our families play a vital role in the development of reading skills and we aim to foster a strong home-school partnership using Reading Records as a tool for communication between class teachers and parents.