Reading
Reading Lead: Mr N Green
'EVERY CHILD A READER'
Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out what’s printed on the page. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a wide range of words. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It’s important for them to understand how stories work too. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they’ll hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.
As children start to learn to read at Coppice Farm Primary School, reading at home can also play an important role in helping to keep them interested in books. Find out what interests them, help them to find books that will be engaging and fun, and spend time reading the books they bring home from school together.
INTENT
We intend for our Reading curriculum to build secure, long-term Reading knowledge through carefully sequenced concepts.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to be carefully structured so that pupils build secure, long-term knowledge and skills through clearly sequenced concepts. From the early stages of phonological awareness and phonics, pupils are systematically taught how sounds map to letters and how this supports decoding. As pupils progress, they develop fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension through a deliberate sequence of increasingly complex texts, genres, and reading strategies. Prior learning is regularly revisited and applied through retrieval practice so that new knowledge connects meaningfully with what pupils already know, allowing understanding to deepen over time. This coherent sequencing ensures that all pupils, including those who need additional support, can confidently build the foundations and have the strength required to become fluent, thoughtful, and independent readers.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to develop independent, motivated writers.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to nurture pupils who are confident, independent, and motivated readers. By providing regular opportunities to read for pleasure and purpose, alongside explicit teaching of reading strategies, pupils learn how to select texts, monitor their understanding, and apply skills independently and creatively. A rich and diverse range of high-quality texts reflects different cultures, experiences, and viewpoints, helping pupils to see reading as relevant and enjoyable. Through supportive discussion, choice, and encouragement, pupils develop positive reading habits and a lifelong love of reading, enabling them to engage confidently and resiliently with texts both in school and beyond.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to foster unity through recognising diverse contributions to Reading in the wider world.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to promote unity and mutual respect by celebrating the diverse contributions to reading and literature from across the world. Pupils are exposed to a wide range of texts, authors, and storytellers representing different cultures, traditions, languages, and perspectives. Through discussion and reflection, pupils learn to value similarities and differences in experiences and viewpoints, developing empathy and understanding of others. By recognising that stories and texts connect people across time and place, our curriculum helps pupils appreciate reading as a shared human experience that brings communities together and encourages respect, inclusion, and global citizenship.
We intend for our Reading curriculum to be inclusive, ensuring all children can access Reading for purpose and pleasure and excel.
Through positivity, we want our Reading curriculum to be inclusive and ambitious, ensuring that every child can access reading for both purpose and pleasure and achieve their full potential. Teaching is carefully adapted to meet diverse needs through high-quality phonics instruction, targeted support, and appropriate challenge, enabling all pupils to make progress regardless of starting point. A range of accessible and engaging texts, alongside supportive strategies such as choral and echo reading, pre-teaching of vocabulary, and the use of visual and oral scaffolds, ensures that barriers to reading are reduced. By fostering a supportive and encouraging reading culture, we enable all children to develop confidence, enjoyment, and excellence in reading.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Children are helped to read fluently with the systematic teaching of phonics in EYFS and Key Stage One.
- The progression in ‘Monster Phonics’ is used as a basis for planning. The teaching of this is multi-sensory and active to ensure learning is retained and fun.
- Monster Phonics is designed to assist teachers in the teaching of speaking and listening skills so that, by the end of Key Stage 1, children have developed fluent word reading skills and have a good foundation in spelling and writing. For further information on our Early Reading approach using Monster Phonics, please see our separate Phonics Curriculum page.
- Once children have developed fluent word reading skills, they are further developed through:
• Shared reading through our English curriculum using rich, age-related texts
• Whole class guided reading (minimum twice weekly) again, using a different rich, age-related text
• Independent reading at home and at school
Coppice Farm Primary School provide a variety of enrichment activities throughout the year to instil a love of reading, including:
• Theatre trips
• Author visits
• World book week activities
• Read-A-Thon
• School library
• Opportunities to read to others in the community
• Performance reading with an audience
• Reading in the wider curriculum
IMPACT
- Our pupils will be competent readers by the time they leave our school.
The impact of Reading success in our school is measured through the following:
- Pupils will enjoy reading across a range of genres and have a love of books.
- Pupils will recommend books to their peers and participate in discussions about books with interest.
- Pupils will have enhanced their knowledge and wider understanding of all subjects across the curriculum.
- Pupils of all abilities will succeed in all reading lessons.
- Pupils will use a range of strategies for decoding words; not solely relying on phonics.
- Pupils will have a good knowledge of a range of authors.
- Pupils will be ready to read in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.
- Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support reading at home and contribute regularly to home-school records
- Use of questionnaires and pupil voice
In addition, teachers will use formative and summative assessments to measure progress. All year groups assess reading formerly using NTS Assessments. Years 1, 3, 4 and 5 assess termly. Years 2 and 6 assess half-termly.
Statutory assessment will be used in:
• Year 1 (Phonics Screening Check)
• Year 2 (End of KS1 SATs)
• Year 6 (end of KS2 SATs)
Why is reading so important?
Studies show that reading for pleasure makes a big difference to children’s educational performance. Here’s how you can get your child off to a great start.
Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.
In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.
What difference can I make as a parent?
You can make a huge difference! Parents are important teachers in a child’s life and it’s never too early to start reading together.
Even before they're born, babies learn to recognise their parents' voices. Reading to your baby from birth, even for just a few minutes a day, gives them the comfort of hearing your voice and increases their exposure to language.
How can I point them in the right direction?
Make sure that your child is familiar with language and books so they can see how enjoyable reading is. Some of the things you can do include:
- reading aloud to your child, talking about the words and pictures, and sharing ideas about the book
- reading yourself – children who see adults reading, and enjoying it, are much more likely to want to read themselves
- surrounding your child with books – you don't need hundreds of books at home, but go to the library or bookshop regularly to borrow books, spend time together, browse and make choices. In this way, reading becomes a habit.
Most importantly, talk to your child. Spend time with them, doing simple activities (like cooking and making things). As you talk about what you’re doing, you are helping them to learn new words. Later, when they see words written down, they’ve already heard them and know what they mean.
Reading at Coppice Farm
Our expectation is that all children read at least FOUR TIMES a week at home, recording all reading in their reading diary which will be checked each week.
All of your child's reading will count towards their individual certificates which go up in increments of 25.
Coppice Farm Star readers
As part of our four weekly reads challenge in school we have a Star Readers trophy.
This year the trophy will be awarded to an individual, group or class each week who has shown commitment to their reading or engaged with reading through a variety of mediums.
It is really important that children are given the opportunity to read regularly and have access to a range of different reading materials. Parents can support children and their reading through regular reading at home. Reading to and with your child every evening for at least ten minutes can make a dramatic difference to a child's achievement within school.
