Reading at Red Hill Primary School

RecAt Red Hill Primary School, we are passionate about English. We promote a love of reading, writing and drama, as well as equipping children with the phonetical, comprehension, spelling, grammar and punctuation skills needed to be adept and fluent readers and writers.

The skills that children are taught in Literacy underpin all other subjects. They enable pupils to communicate and express themselves in all areas of their work. Teachers will always make cross-curricular links wherever appropriate and will plan for pupils to apply the skills, knowledge and understanding that they have acquired during Literacy to other areas of the curriculum.

“By the end of year 6, pupils’ reading and writing should be sufficiently fluent and effortless for them to manage the general demands of the curriculum in year 7, across all subjects and not just in English”. (Reading framework, 2023)

Red Hill readers

Children have regular opportunities to read during their Guided Reading sessions. Pupils have opportunities to choose books and engage with a range of genres and text types. Children at Red Hill develop a lifelong love of reading. Teachers read to pupils daily so that everyone is able to access high levels of literature.

In the early stages of school, reading is taught primarily through phonics, using the DFE accredited Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. This is supported by regular guided reading sessions where children enjoy and discuss books in a group, as well as regular home reading.

Once fluent, in Key Stage 2, pupils learn more about the comprehension and analytical aspects of reading, with continued guided reading sessions. For this we follow the CUSP curriculum.

CUSP Reading is deliberately designed to be ambitious and aspirational, ensuring that every child leaves our school as a competent, confident reader. Drawing on the latest research around explicit vocabulary instruction, reading fluency and key comprehension strategies, this curriculum is a synthesis of what we know works in helping children make outstanding progress in reading and a distillation into consistent, well-structured practice.

Pupils will receive a daily diet of excellent reading teaching and this will be supplemented by regular opportunities to engage with shared reading experiences, promoting the joy of reading with the whole school community. The clear structure and principles ensure that teaching is progressive, challenging and engaging and the rich, diverse literature spine acts as both a mirror so that every child can see themselves in the core texts and as a mirror to engage pupils with experiences beyond their own field of reference.

Home reading

As part of home reading, children should be selecting and reading a book appropriate to their level. We encourage parents/carers to hear their child read unless they are at a level where the pupils can assess their own reading. Feedback on home reading is made by parents/carers or pupils within the Home Reading Records.

Developing a love of reading!

At Red Hill, we promote a love of reading and reading for enjoyment. Each class has an engaging and exciting book corner, where children have the opportunity to borrow books and choose books that interest them. We also have many exciting reading events throughout the year, for example: author visits with book signings; trips to the local library; and dressing up for World Book Day!