Reception

In Reception, children continue their phonics journey and follow the Read Write Inc programme from the very beginning. Learning to read at home - Ruth Miskin Literacy

Children begin to take home blending strips and books matched to their current level. Alongside this, a love of reading is promoted through all areas of provision. Carefully selected texts are read to the children during story time and high-quality reading opportunities are embedded everywhere—from recipes in role-play to labels in the construction area.

KS1

Year 1

In Year 1, children continue their Read Write Inc journey to master complex sounds and read these within a range of words and texts. Children will continue to master different reading skills through continuous provision, with an increased focus on independence.  We provide daily story time with high-quality texts linked to our termly topics. Children have regular opportunities to read across the curriculum. In all areas of provision, children move beyond reading simple labels to using their phonics skills to solve problems across all areas of the curriculum.

Year 2

In Year 2, as children complete their Read Write Inc journey, the focus shifts from decoding to fluency and stamina. We place a strong emphasis on prosody, teaching children to read with expression and intonation to bring stories to life. There is a deeper focus on comprehension skills, where children learn to retrieve information by asking and answering questions about what they have read, make inferences about characters, and explain their reasons for answers.

KS2

Once the children move into KS2, each class will focus on a challenging yet age appropriate novel per term. This will support pupils to develop their reading fluency through guided oral reading instruction and repeated reading of texts. Alongside daily oral reading of the text, children will also practise their comprehension skills through a range of practical and written activities to deepen their understanding of the novel.  A balance of 7 key reading strategies are taught and interwoven into every session. These are: predicting, inferring/interpreting, asking questions, explaining/evaluating, clarifying, making connections and summarising.

Year 3/4

Reading in Years 3 and 4 is all about bringing stories to life! As children become confident in ‘sounding out’, we begin to focus on 'prosody'—using expression, rhythm, and pace to capture a character’s voice. Children will become confident at answering questions by retrieving information from the text. 

Year 5

In Year 5, children look deeper into stories to see how an author makes a book feel to the reader. They use inference skills to decipher how characters are feeling in different texts. Year 5 will grow confident in answering questions about their stories and explaining and justifying their answers by using evidence they have found in the text.

Year 6

In Year 6, reading sessions focus on deepening children’s understanding of a wide range of stories. Pupils learn to interpret the author’s big ideas, explain specific language choices, and make meaningful connections between different texts. By reading ‘between the lines,’ children develop the skills to uncover hidden meanings and explore the deeper layers of a story.

National Curriculum Links

KS1

• Develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary, and understanding.
• Understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to.
• Participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say.

KS2

• Maintain positive attitudes to reading and an understanding of what they read.
• Understand what they read by checking that the book makes sense to them and discussing their understanding.
• Retrieve, record, and present information from non-fiction.
• Provide reasoned justifications for their views.