English
Reading Curriculum Statement
‘Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.’ – Richard Steele
Intent
At St Mary’s, we want all children to develop a true love of English – both as an audience and as composers of language. We aim to nurture confident, fluent, and passionate readers and writers who engage fully with the richness of language and literature.
We believe that reading is at the heart of all learning. Through celebrating a diverse range of texts, genres, and authors, we inspire children to explore different perspectives and develop their own voice. Our curriculum promotes a love of reading and writing that extends beyond the classroom, encouraging children to become lifelong learners and enthusiastic communicators.
We fully understand the importance of phonics and the vital role it plays in early reading, that’s why we are committed to ensuring all children succeed in their early reading journey. By equipping them with strong foundational skills, we ensure they are confident, capable readers by the time they enter Key Stage 2 – ready to access the full curriculum and embrace every opportunity.
Implementation
At St Mary’s, we take a systematic and consistent approach to the teaching of reading, ensuring that every child develops the skills and confidence to become a fluent and enthusiastic reader.
In the Early Years and Key Stage 1, we place a strong emphasis on the teaching of phonics through the Supersonic Phonic Friends programme. This engaging and interactive scheme is taught daily to all children in EYFS and KS1. It supports children to swiftly learn and apply their growing phonic knowledge, enabling them to become independent and confident readers from the very start of their learning journey. Phonics teaching is carefully sequenced and regularly assessed to ensure strong progress, with targeted support provided for those who need it. Those children who are identified as needing additional support receive Phonics intervention to ensure that they can “keep up, not catch up.”
From EYFS through to Year 6, we use the Power of Reading approach to immerse children in high-quality, carefully selected texts. This programme allows pupils to explore books in depth through drama, prediction, art, reading, and writing, encouraging both creative engagement and critical thinking. By exploring texts in this rich, multi-sensory way, children develop a deeper understanding of literature and a lasting love for reading.
From Year 1 to Year 6, we explicitly teach the specific skills required for reading comprehension. Children are taught how to predict, understand vocabulary in context, infer meaning, make connections across a text, and summarise what they have read. These comprehension skills are taught and practised weekly, using a range of engaging texts, and are embedded across the curriculum to support reading fluency and understanding.
For any children who are identified as needing extra support or reading practice, they become part of our “Daily Readers” intervention. These children are heard reading once a day either by a member of staff or by a reading volunteer. For children in KS2 who require an intensive reading intervention, they are invited to come to school for 8.30am each day and they receive an intensive 1:1 reading programme with a member of staff.
To further foster a love of reading and build children’s language and literary knowledge, we prioritise daily story time across the whole school:
- In EYFS and KS1, children enjoy a daily story time. We use an approach called “Favourite Five” – five high-quality picture books chosen each half term and read repeatedly. Through repetition, children internalise story language, structure, and vocabulary, and develop a bank of treasured stories they can retell and read independently.
- In KS2, children also enjoy daily story time with books carefully selected from our Plagues of Reading spine. These texts are chosen for their complexity and richness, often featuring archaic language, non-linear structures, complex narrators, and demanding themes. By hearing stories that are beyond their own reading level, children are exposed to advanced vocabulary, sophisticated ideas, and rich literary experiences that broaden their understanding and stretch their thinking.
As children progress through the school, our reading curriculum continues to develop fluency, comprehension, and a love for literature. Whole-class reading sessions are used to explore texts collaboratively, encouraging discussion, analysis, and deeper thinking. Texts are carefully chosen to reflect a range of cultures, voices, genres, and experiences.
Reading is embedded across the wider curriculum and school life. Classrooms feature inviting reading areas, and all children have weekly visits to our well-stocked whole school library. We celebrate reading through author visits throughout the year, regular book fairs, and by giving children a voice in selecting new books for their classrooms. We also celebrate books annually with our “World Book Week” celebrations. These activities ensure that reading remains a vibrant and exciting part of school life.
Children in Years 5 and 6 are invited to take part in the Hounslow Junior Book Awards. The children read six books over seven months and vote on their favourite, they then attend an award ceremony with a guest author. Some children in Years 5 and 6 are also Reading Ambassadors. These children embody reading for pleasure at St Mary’s and are also “reading buddies” with children in EYFS.
We work closely with families to build a strong reading culture at home. All parents receive book band guides each time their child moves onto a new book band. These guides give parents ideas of what types of skills their children should be developing and gives examples of the types of questions they could be asking their child when reading at home. Parents are also invited into the school to attend reading workshops where Early Reading is explained and support and guidance is offered for how they can help at home. In our KS1 playground we have a well-stocked Book Nook, with the aim of families giving a book to the book nook, and then taking a book to further drive our enthusiasm and ambition for reading for pleasure.
Impact
At St Mary’s, our structured and inclusive reading curriculum ensures that children become confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers. We monitor each child’s reading progress closely, tracking book band levels each term and implementing timely interventions when necessary to help them to keep up. All students from Year 2 to Year 6 take PIRA reading assessments each term to assess reading comprehension, while those in EYFS and KS1 have their phonics knowledge tracked to provide additional support as needed. This approach cultivates a strong cohort of avid readers who enjoy reading both in and out of the classroom.
EYFS
- Reading Areas available for independent reading during Choosing Time.
- Story and Song Time at least once a day
- Story books are also used in topic work.
- Favourite Five – Five books are read repeatedly over a half term so that by the end of the year the children know 30 books by heart.
- Phonics is taught with lots of real-life opportunities for the children to apply what they have learnt.
- Non-Fiction books are made by staff so children can read books at their phonics level.
- In Reception, children are read with 1:1 on a book band colour book once a week.
- Pobble – This is resource which the whole school uses. The class teacher will choose an image to inspire the children to create their own stories both orally and written.
KS1
- Reading Areas available for independent reading during Choosing Time.
- Story Time at least once a day
- Story books are also used in topic work.
- Favourite Five – Five books are read repeatedly over a half term so that by the end of the year the children know 30 books by heart.
- Phonics is continued to be taught.
- Power of Reading- Children learn about a text where they are taught inference, predictions, drama, art, writing and reading skills.
- Children are read with 1:1 on a book band colour book once a week.
- Rising Stars SPAG program which teaches statutory spellings and grammar to match the curriculum.
- Pobble – This is resource which the whole school uses. The class teacher will choose an image to inspire the children to create their own stories both orally and written.
KS2
- Reading Areas available for independent Reading
- Children read independently during some Soft Starts.
- Power of Reading- Children learn about an unknown text where they are taught inference, predictions, drama, art, writing and reading skills.
- Targeted children are read with 1:1 and there are some Guided Reading Sessions.
- Children can visit the school library to choose their own books.
- Rising Stars SPAG program which teaches statutory spellings and grammar to match the curriculum.
- Pobble – This is resource which the whole school uses. The class teacher will choose an image to inspire the children to create their own stories both orally and written.
Across the whole school there are a range of interventions used to support targeted children and their specific needs.