Reading

Curriculum Intent

Our Reading Vision

At Woodthorpe, we believe that developing a lifelong love of reading is of paramount importance. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and underpins success across all areas of learning. We recognise that learning to read is one of the most significant skills a child will acquire, providing the foundation for future academic achievement and personal development.

While it is essential that children learn the mechanics of reading and develop the skills required to read accurately and fluently, our ambition extends beyond this. We want our children to become enthusiastic, motivated readers who choose to read for pleasure and who see reading as a valuable and enjoyable part of their everyday lives.

Research highlights the importance of both the ability to read and the desire to read, often referred to as the relationship between skill and will. Children who read fluently and are motivated to read for pleasure are far more likely to become lifelong readers. At Woodthorpe, we strive to nurture both.

Our intention is that by the end of their primary education, every pupil will be able to read fluently, confidently and with understanding. We aim to foster a genuine love of reading by making it a high priority throughout the school and by exposing children to a wide range of high-quality texts, authors and genres. Carefully selected texts with rich and ambitious vocabulary support learning across the curriculum, broaden children's experiences and inspire curiosity about the world around them.

Through high-quality teaching, engaging reading experiences and a culture that celebrates books and storytelling, we aim to develop confident, enthusiastic readers who are well prepared for the next stage of their education and equipped with a lifelong love of reading.

At Woodthorpe, we aim for all children to:

Become enthusiastic, motivated and lifelong readers.
Develop confidence when reading a wide range of genres, authors and text types.
Acquire the decoding skills needed to read accurately, fluently and with understanding.
Develop a genuine love of literature and a lifelong enjoyment of reading for pleasure.
Build strong comprehension skills, enabling them to retrieve, summarise, infer, predict and discuss information from a variety of texts.
Engage critically with what they read, making connections between texts, authors and their own experiences.
Be exposed to a rich and diverse range of high-quality texts that broaden their knowledge, vocabulary and understanding of the world.
Participate confidently in discussions about books, sharing opinions and justifying their ideas using evidence from the text.
Access an ambitious reading curriculum that provides all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.
Leave Woodthorpe as fluent, confident readers who are equipped with the skills and motivation to continue reading throughout their lives.

Reading Intent, Implementation and Impact

Curriculum Coverage

Our reading curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum which ‘provides an outline of the core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of the pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum’ (2014: 6).
As a school, we ensure that our children will experience a wide range of texts that promote fluency, understanding and develop regular reading habits. In school, texts are chosen to reflect our rich literary heritage and we place an emphasis on regular reading and reading for pleasure, both in school, and at home. Through a progressive use of language rich texts, children’s ability to work with more complex language is developed. Engaging texts are key to the planning and delivery of Reading and Writing in our school.

Reading at home

We encourage parents to read with their children at home at least three times a week and pupils to change their reading books as often as possible. At Woodthorpe we also believe that bedtime stories are vitally important and encourage this as often as possible at home.

Encouraging a love of reading

To encourage your child to have a love of reading, you could:

Visit the local library
Allow children to use audio books
Use iPads/ tablets- download eBooks
Visit the news round website and let them read the most recent news
Read higher level texts aloud to your child

Woodthorpe Reading after phonics

Once children have successfully completed the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme in Year 2, they move on to Read Write Inc. Comprehension. This is taught through daily reading lessons designed to develop children's fluency, vocabulary and understanding of increasingly challenging texts.

Read Write Inc. Comprehension helps children make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, ensuring they are well prepared for the demands of Key Stage 2 reading.

In Key Stage 2, reading lessons are informed by the evidence-based approach developed by Christopher Such. Children participate in a daily reading lesson designed to develop fluency, vocabulary and comprehension through high-quality texts.

Lessons include a range of reading practices, including:

Fluency Reading – developing accuracy, expression and automaticity.
Close Reading – exploring vocabulary, language and meaning in depth.
Extended Reading – engaging with longer texts and developing sustained understanding.

These approaches help children build reading stamina, deepen comprehension and develop a greater appreciation of literature.

Supporting All Readers in Key Stage 2

We are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a confident and successful reader. Children who require additional support receive targeted intervention to help them make accelerated progress.

In Year 3, children identified within the lowest 20% of readers are heard read daily. These additional reading opportunities provide regular practice, build fluency and confidence, and ensure that any gaps in reading development are identified and addressed promptly.

From Year 4 to Year 6, some pupils access additional reading support through the Read Write Inc. Fresh Start programme. This intervention is designed to improve reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, helping children to rapidly close gaps in learning and access the wider curriculum with confidence.

Read aloud

Reading at our school is of the highest priority. In every classroom, every day, our children are read to by the teacher for 10, 15, 20 minutes, sometimes more. This non-negotiable isn’t necessarily followed up with any “work”, it simply allows our children to listen, enjoy and understand the magical power of a great story, poem or piece of non-fiction.

All classrooms all have books available for children to read in class, as well as to take home. Many children have also donated books for other children to borrow.

Reading progression

Woodthorpe Church of England Primary School