At Rose Hill Primary School, we understand that reading is a ‘foundation skill for all learning’.  For academic success, children must learn to read, then read to learn and teachers must understand and facilitate this process.  Successful reading is a self-fulfilling cycle, where children are exposed to greater background knowledge, which can then be brought to new texts leading to greater understanding, increased success academically and beyond.

INTENT

At Rose Hill Primary School, our reading curriculum is designed to nurture a lifelong love of reading while developing fluent, confident and engaged readers. We aim to ensure that every child:

• Develops strong phonics knowledge and word recognition abilities.
• Gains the foundational skills to read and comprehend a wide range of texts across genres.
• Enhances vocabulary, language comprehension and analytical skills through rich, varied reading experiences.
• Cultivates critical thinking and empathy by exploring texts that reflect diverse perspectives and cultures.
• Enjoys reading for pleasure and sees it as a source of knowledge, imagination and personal growth.

Our goal is for children to not only meet or exceed national reading standards but to leave Rose Hill Primary School with the tools to continue their reading journey with confidence.

IMPLEMENTATION

At Rose Hill Primary School, reading is at the heart of our curriculum and daily teaching. We implement our reading programme through:

• Systematic Phonics Instruction with Read, Write, Inc: We use the Read, Write, Inc phonics programme to teach children to decode words and develop essential reading skills, ensuring a solid foundation for all learners.
• Daily Whole-Class Shared Reading Sessions: Pupils participate in whole-class shared reading sessions where teachers model reading skills, engage students with rich texts and foster meaningful discussions to deepen comprehension and critical thinking.
• High-Quality Texts: Our classrooms and school library are stocked with a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, reflecting a variety of cultures and perspectives. We provide texts that are engaging and age-appropriate, helping children explore different genres and themes.
• Reading Across the Curriculum: We integrate reading into all subject areas, enabling children to apply their reading skills across disciplines like science, history and geography, fostering a deeper understanding of the world.
• Parental Engagement: We actively involve parents in their child’s reading journey, offering workshops and resources to support reading at home, helping to reinforce the importance of reading outside of school.

Phonics

For more information on phonics please visit the phonics area of our website.

Fluency

Once phonic knowledge is secure, reading fluency is taught using strategies such as:

• modelled fluent reading fluent reading of a text is modelled by an adult, with discussion of why the reading was fluent and how that helps understanding, followed by pupils reading the same text aloud
• assisted reading pupils read a passage of text as best they can, while simultaneously hearing a more fluent reading of the text by a teacher or peer
• repeated reading pupils re-read a short and meaningful passage a set number of times, or until a suitable level for fluency is reached.  Repeated readings can occur during the same learning session, or over a series of consecutive sessions.

Comprehension

‘The ultimate aim of reading is comprehension: understanding the meaning of a text’ (Quigley, 2018). Alongside fluency development, comprehension strategies are taught. These are: 

• word meaning understanding the meaning of words and phrases meaning in context
• prediction making a logically plausible guess as to what will happen next
• retrieval locating information in a text
• inference understanding the layers of meaning in a text
• language choice the effect of words and phrases on the reader
• comparison identifying differences and similarities within and between texts
• sequencing ordering the events, actions or ideas in a text
• summarising stating the main events, actions, or ideas in a text

Through mastering these skills and understanding when to apply each skill (or combinations of skills), pupils can successfully comprehend age-appropriate texts. 

IMPACT

Through our comprehensive reading approach at Rose Hill Primary School, we ensure that pupils:

• Achieve Reading Fluency and Comprehension: By the end of their primary education, children will be able to read confidently, fluently and with strong comprehension across a range of texts.
• Develop a Love for Reading: We foster enthusiastic, independent readers who develop a passion for reading, both for pleasure and for learning.
• Expand Vocabulary and Knowledge: Children’s exposure to varied, high-quality texts helps them build vocabulary, world knowledge and an appreciation for different viewpoints and cultures.
• Become Lifelong Learners: The reading skills and habits that children develop at Rose Hill Primary School provide the foundation for their future academic success and personal growth.