Our approach to reading

At Long Toft Primary, Reading is embedded throughout our curriculum. We believe that reading is vital to our children’s whole development so they can access the curriculum as well as be prepared for future life skills. At the heart of our English curriculum is a range of high-quality texts selected by phase teams that weave seamlessly into our Long Toft Curriculum and form the basis of our reading comprehension. Through careful text selection we aim to deliver broad, balanced and bespoke provision for reading (based on statutory NC requirements) following a clear progression in skills across all year groups.

The aims of teaching reading in our school are:

• To develop a read culture that instills a love of books and reading.
• To create a strong, embedded reading culture by providing a rich language environment.
• To develop essential reading strategies and skills: fluency, accuracy, understanding and response to different texts.
• To become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers not just simply children who can read.
• To ensure that all children have access to appropriate reading and phonics strategies to enable them to further their reading skills through a variety of materials.
• To monitor and assess children’s progress in reading and identify those who require extra support.

To develop our pupils as readers we:

• Teach them to read accurately and fluently using a range of strategies.
• Help them to understand and respond to what they read using inference and deduction where appropriate.
• Allow the opportunity for children to reflect on and discuss what they have read, including the language and punctuation choices made by the author.
• Enhance their understanding of a variety of text types including non-fiction, fiction and poetry.
• Encourage them to develop a love of reading and become confident, fluent and independent.
• Teach them how to seek information and learn from the written word.
• Use drama and role-play, where appropriate, to engage children in the text.