At the heart of our curriculum, is the desire that every child becomes a confident and fluent reader. Our environments are rich with beautiful books. We read to the children every day and share our recommended reading lists with parents and children. Phonics is taught with a systematic synthetic programme – Jolly Phonics, and staff are regularly monitored and trained in the teaching of early phonics skills. We use Oxford Tree reading books, which are decodable in Early Years and Year 1 to support early reading skills and success. Multiple copies of books are available for shared reading for enjoyment. Classrooms include an age appropriate loaning library and an inviting book area. Outdoor reading areas are available for children throughout school and used during lunch and break times. Junior Reading leaders help to develop and drive the love of reading in the school and are available every day for reading activities at break times. They also lead a reading raffle rewarding children who read regularly at home in Friday’s assembly.

Weekly guided reading sessions are used to teach children the skills of reading and comprehension using books at the Child’s reading ability and includes repeated reads for children in early years and year 1. This enables them to practise and apply their phonic skills as well as build up fluency. Throughout key stage 1 and 2, a weekly class comprehension is completed and used as a way of teaching comprehension. We use a range of strategies, e.g. choral reads, echo reads, etc, to develop fluency and bridge the gap between word reading and comprehension.

The head teacher works for the Jerry Clay English Hub as a Literacy Specialist and Audit Lead.