Curriculum

• Prioritise reading as a fundamental part of our curriculum and school culture.
• Equip all pupils with secure phonic knowledge and skills so they can decode and access texts at an age-appropriate level.
• Develop reading fluency at all stages, enabling pupils to read with accuracy and automaticity.
• Foster a lifelong love and appreciation of books, encouraging reading both in school and beyond.
• Ensure all pupils have access to high-quality, age-appropriate, and challenging texts that reflect a range of voices, cultures, and experiences.
• Expose pupils to rich and varied vocabulary to help address the word gap and support language development.
• Provide a consistent and structured approach to teaching reading comprehension, ensuring understanding deepens over time.
• Encourage pupils to engage with and respond to their reading in diverse and meaningful ways.
• Offer a clear progression framework that guides the teaching of reading across all Key Stages and ensures full curriculum coverage.

Phonics and Early Reading
Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc. (RWI) programme, which is delivered consistently across the Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stage One, and Key Stage Two where appropriate.
Our aim is to ensure that all children develop:

• Strong phonological awareness

• The ability to segment and blend sounds for reading and writing

• Confidence in reading common exception words (tricky words) by sight

This systematic approach provides a solid foundation for early reading and supports pupils in becoming fluent, confident readers.

Reading books and reading at home
As children begin to formally learn phonics, they are given a reading book closely matched to their current phonics knowledge. This allows them to practise and showcase their growing reading skills with confidence at home, sharing their progress with parents and carers.
Alongside this, pupils also choose a book for enjoyment, which may be read to them by an adult. This helps foster a love of stories and encourages shared reading experiences.
As pupils progress and master key phonics skills, they move on to books from the Read Write Inc. (RWI) scheme or other decodable texts that build confidence and fluency across a broader range of content. Pupils will continue to have the opportunity to select self-chosen books to nurture their personal interests and enjoyment of reading.
To promote and celebrate home reading:

• Pupils are encouraged to bring in their reading records regularly.

• Rewards such as Dojo points, bookmarks, books, and special experiences in school are offered to motivate and recognise their efforts.

We value the vital role that parents and carers play in supporting their child's reading journey. From the very beginning, we strive to build strong, supportive relationships through:

• Regular reading events each Friday morning

• Opportunities for parents to learn how they can best support reading at home

If a pupil is not reading regularly at home, the class teacher will make contact with the family to offer guidance and support. Our aim is to ensure that every child receives consistent encouragement and opportunities to practise reading in both school and at home.
 
Reading scheme
Downsell follows a three tier reading scheme. Pupil progression through each stage is decided by teacher assessment:
Tier 1 - RWI Phonics 
Tier 2 - PM Levelled Benchmark
Tier 3 - Chapter Books 

Our reading strategy
At Downsell, we implement a Reading Strategy designed to develop reading comprehension and interpretative skills across all year groups. This strategy is embedded into our daily timetable, ensuring consistent and purposeful reading instruction.
Key Features of Our Reading Strategy:

• Daily Reading Sessions: Each day, students engage in dedicated reading lessons, fostering regular practice and skill development.

• Core Text Focus: Typically, four sessions per week centre on a primary text, allowing for in-depth exploration and understanding.

• Diverse Text Exposure: students are introduced to a variety of linked texts, non-fiction to broaden their literary experience and genre familiarity.

• Vocabulary Enrichment: Each session incorporates targeted vocabulary instruction, enhancing students' language acquisition and comprehension abilities.

• Comprehensive Comprehension Strategies: We employ structured approaches to reading comprehension, ensuring students develop critical thinking and analytical skills.

This strategy aligns with best practices in literacy instruction, as outlined in the Department for Education's "Reading Framework," which emphasizes the importance of systematic phonics, fluency, and comprehension in primary education


Daily Reading Sessions

• Key Stage One and Two: Approximately 50 minutes daily.

• Reception- 15 minutes daily, building up throughout the year towards an hour in the Summer

• Nursery- 15 minute sessions

Each session is structured to engage students in high-quality texts and discussions, promoting both fluency and comprehension, or to develop sound, segmenting and blending recognition and fluency.

Core and Linked Texts

• Generally, each core text will last for the majority of a half term and non-fiction texts are taught within the last two weeks of the half term. These texts are rich in vocabulary and complexity, providing a foundation for in-depth study.

Inclusive Participation
All pupils are included in these lessons and are exposed to high-quality texts and discussions. Teachers will identify children who are not yet on track to meet age-related expectations (ARE) for their year group and will plan lessons that match their abilities, to develop their decoding and fluency as necessary. These pupils will also receive additional support to help them catch up quickly.
 
Structure of a Reading Session
Each reading session will have a clear learning intention in the form of a key skill, linked to the curriculum requirements. This approach ensures that pupils understand the reading skills or strategies that they are practising.
Fluency and Oracy

• Fluency: Reading fluency plays an integral part in our Reading Strategy lessons. Pupils will hear a fluent adult model of reading and be given the opportunity to read during lessons using a range of fluency techniques.

• Oracy: Oracy is a key driver in reading sessions and is used to support children in forming well-developed answers and opinions around reading through rich discussion about the text.

Reading lessons may vary in their structure depending on the sections of texts studied. Some sessions may be more generalised with extended periods of reading and discussion. Some sessions will focus on developing fluency, or the outcome may be a performance. However, the vast majority of sessions will follow this format with clear links to the National Curriculum.

• Prior Learning (may include activating background knowledge from other subjects).

• New learning: Words (new/tricky vocabulary – may include providing new knowledge).

• I do - Modelling of focus skill/strategy by the teacher.

• We do - Guided Practice with a partner or as a group.

• You do - Independent/group response/ tasks and opportunities to apply the skills taught to independent work

Impact

• Be proficient in decoding and encoding.
• Demonstrate skills in inference, prediction, retrieval and recall.
• Engage in discussions and make connections to texts they have studied, read or listened to.
• Have a deepened knowledge of topic areas through exposure to a diverse range of non-fiction texts and cross-curricular content.

• Daily Reading Sessions: Each day, pupils engage in dedicated reading lessons that focus on fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary development.
• Diverse Texts: Students are exposed to a wide range of genres, including poetry, plays, non-fiction, and fiction, to broaden their literary experience.
• Parental Involvement: Parents and carers are encouraged to support reading at home and contribute regularly to reading records, fostering a collaborative approach to literacy development.

• Progress Monitoring: Regular assessments track individual and group progress, ensuring that all pupils are on track to meet or exceed age-related expectations.
• Reading for Pleasure: Pupils demonstrate a genuine love for reading, engaging with texts beyond the curriculum and discussing books with enthusiasm.
• Cross-Curricular Knowledge: Through exposure to a variety of texts, students develop a deeper understanding of topics across subjects, enhancing their overall academic performance.

At various points throughout a lesson, the teacher will complete various AFL checks. These can be in the form of talk partners, mini white boards, You do activities, focus groups and class discussions. 
At the end of each term, children are given a summative assessment to check if they are achieving age related curriculum requirements. These assessments are used to support teachers in ensuring that the curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of pupils working below age expectation. The support for these children, in the classroom,  is high quality first teaching first, clear differentiation and / or focus groups. Year groups also have the flexibility / option to teach the children with AfL groups. Outside of the classroom, children who need further support will have access to boosters or tailored interventions.