Reading
At St Benedict’s we aim to create a reading culture that allows every child to learn to read, regardless of background, needs or abilities. We want our children to be fluent, confident readers who have a genuine love of reading. They will be exposed to a wealth of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction to develop their vocabulary and language comprehension. We work to inspire them to become life-long readers who enjoy books and have a desire to read for pleasure.
Phonics and Early Reading
We teach phonics and early reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through the school.
As a result, all our children are able to tackle unfamiliar words as they read. At St Benedict's Primary School, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum, We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.
Comprehension
At St Benedict's, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure.
Our readers are equipped with the tools to takle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.
Whole Class Reading (Year 2 Onwards)
Our shared reading curriculum is built around a carefully sequenced range of high-quality, age appropriate texts using Literacy Counts’ Ready Steady Read Together units of learning. This resource provides dynamic and inclusive lessons that incorporate metacognitive strategies and showcase diverse literature from a range of exceptional authors. It aims to inspire children and their families to develop a lifelong love of reading for pleasure, knowledge and information. We intend that all pupils from Year 2 to Year 6, regardless of need, ability or background, have the opportunity to meet and where possible exceed the National Curriculum expectations for reading comprehension. Ready Steady Read Together ensures that every pupil has access to high quality texts, enabling them to experience rich literature that develops fluency, vocabulary and deep understanding. Through explicit teacher modelling of expression, pace, intonation and prosody, children learn how skilled readers bring meaning to a text and how these features support comprehension. Shared reading also provides regular opportunities for discussion, questioning, drama and exploration of language. These approaches deepen comprehension while strengthening oracy skills. Crucially, our shared reading curriculum ensures that every child, regardless of their decoding ability, can access ambitious texts, engage meaningfully with literature and develop the habit of reading widely and often for both pleasure and learning. Please click here for further information to find out about the intent, implementation and impact.
Click on the links below for our reading implementation and progression overviews
Click here to see our Ready Steady Read Together Book List
Head to the Parent Area to find out how you can support your child with phonics, Early Reading and Reading.
