Reading
Reading at Our School
At the heart of our curriculum is a commitment to developing confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers. We believe that reading opens doors to learning, imagination and opportunity, and we strive to foster a lifelong love of books in every child.
In EYFS and Key Stage 1, all pupils learn the essential building blocks of reading through our systematic phonics programme, Bug Club Phonics. Daily phonics lessons provide children with the knowledge and skills they need to decode words accurately and become successful readers. Alongside this, children enjoy a daily story time where they listen to, discuss and engage with a wide range of high-quality books, helping to nurture a love of reading from the very beginning.
As children progress through the school, we build on these strong foundations by reading and studying increasingly rich and challenging texts together. These carefully selected books form our Literature Spine, which has been thoughtfully curated to reflect a diverse range of authors, genres and periods of publication. Through these texts, children encounter different perspectives, cultures and experiences, broadening their understanding of the world around them. We choose books that inspire, excite and take our children on adventures, encouraging curiosity, imagination and a genuine enjoyment of reading.
Before reading a new text, key vocabulary is explicitly introduced and clarified to ensure that children can access, understand and enjoy the book more fully. This focus on language development helps pupils make sense of increasingly complex texts and supports their wider learning across the curriculum.
Questioning and discussion are central to our reading lessons. Through carefully planned conversations about texts, children develop their comprehension skills, deepen their understanding and learn to think critically about what they read. By encouraging pupils to share ideas, justify opinions and make connections, we ensure that they engage meaningfully with the books they encounter.
Our aim is that every child leaves our school with the skills, knowledge and enthusiasm to read widely, read often and read for pleasure.