English Reading Curriculum Vision

‘The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.’ (NC, 2014)

Purpose and Intent

‘What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn.’  (Jim Trelease)

At Radipole, our aim is to develop and nurture passionate, enthusiastic readers. We know that children who love reading are more likely to achieve highly, both at school and within their future lives. We understand that confident readers become independent, motivated, curious, excited learners, and we recognise that in developing an early appreciation of language, we enable children to expand their vocabulary and harness excellent communication skills. Instilling a love of reading helps children to make sense of the world around them, to learn about people and to develop empathy. We know that reading sparks imagination, initiates conversations, and develops resilience and self-esteem. We cultivate these lifelong skills and qualities in children at Radipole through poetry, a variety of fictional genres, non-fiction, comprehension questions and research.

‘I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.’ (Margaret Atwood)

Implementation and Realisation

At Radipole, we aim for outstanding practice by developing wide vocabulary, discrete word-reading skills and comprehension. We read aloud to children, talk about books with excitement and enthusiasm, and we recommend books, sharing our experiences of stories and authors that we love. We promote a love of books and reading throughout the school and the wider school community. Partnerships with parents and carers is fundamental to nurturing the development of life long readers.

At Radipole, we:

• place reading and books at the centre of the curriculum
• have a clear phonics and reading policy 
• recognise that being able to read well is a key life skill for children, whatever their background 
• believe that every child can learn to read with the right teaching and support
• build time for all children to read independently, read aloud and be read to during the school day
• develop a coherent whole-school strategy for promoting reading for pleasure
• believe that every teacher should be an advocate for reading devote time to training staff so they are equipped to support children’s enjoyment of reading
• involve parents to ensure the culture of reading that the school has developed extends into the home
• spend money and time to support reading, including buying books and maintaining a well-stocked, well-staffed library
• train all staff to implement the phonics scheme
• provide ongoing support for parents in strategies to support building children’s fluency
• place a high value on home reading, with reading records provided for each child

‘We have an obligation to read aloud to our children. To read them things they enjoy. To read to them stories we are already tired of. To do the voices, to make it interesting, and not to stop reading to them just because they learn to read to themselves. Use reading-aloud time as bonding time, as time when no phones are being checked, when the distractions of the world are put aside.’ (Neil Gaiman, The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Non-fiction)

Impact and Evaluation

The impact of our reading curriculum at Radipole is the development in children of a desire to read a diverse range of texts for enjoyment. At Radipole, we understand that access to a wide range of texts is an essential part of every child’s educational entitlement, whatever their background or attainment. This is because we appreciate that access to broad reading opportunities makes a huge contribution to educational achievement across the curriculum and a profound difference to their future prospects.  Children are supported throughout the school to allow them to access literature of their choice, and additional help is provided where necessary.

‘Every child deserves the chance to become a reader. For many children, including those growing up in a household where reading is not valued, school will be the key place where they come into contact with books. Children who are not introduced to books are missing out on a lifetime of enjoyment.’  (Building an Outstanding Reading School, Oxford School Improvement)