We want our pupils to leave school being able to read easily, fluently and with good, secure understanding, but also to have developed a pleasure for reading widely and often. Reading for pleasure occurs daily and the classroom space is rich with books and opportunities for pupils to develop their reading skills. We use opportunities for pupils to support reading in school, with older pupils acting as reading buddies to nurture our readers and to promote peer discussion of books.  

As soon as children enter Reception, a daily programme of phonological awareness is taught using the 'Sounds-Write' phonics scheme.  At the start of their Reception year, children follow the 'Initial Code' programme, and from Year 1 and into Year 2, the children follow the 'Extended Code' programme, which have clear steps of progression and supports our pupils with learning to both read and write. Pupils are given a fully decodable reading book linked directly to the phonics being taught through Reception and Year 1, and then progress on to our colour banded books, when appropriate in Year 2.

In Key Stage 2, we use the Accelerated Reading programme to engage and motivate readers within a structured progression and we regularly assess pupils to monitor their progress.

Our mixed age classes mean we have timetabled Phonics/Spelling across the whole school enabling us to stream pupils to meet their individual needs. Teachers and teaching assistants are utilised effectively to work with groups of children to ensure they make progress.

Pupils in all age groups have a range of opportunities to read involving a variety of teaching strategies; 1:1, small group and whole class reading. We recognise that comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum.  This is enhanced by a broad and varied curriculum that uses ‘books as hooks’ to access to a wide range of texts, and themed literacy based days.