Reading

Our aim is for pupils to develop a love of reading during their time at Palterton Primary School. We want children to be interested, fascinated and curious. We embrace these goals through quality first teaching, engaging resources and close collaboration with parents and carers. 

We want pupils to read a range of high-quality stories, plays, poetry, non-fiction and textbooks written at an age-appropriate interest level with enjoyment, accuracy and at a reasonable pace. 

We teach daily structured phonic lessons aligned with our reading scheme in reception and Key Stage 1, enabling pupils to read most words effortlessly and this is taught in conjunction with daily reading opportunities for all pupils. 

Reading teaching places emphasis on both enjoyment and the understanding of language, especially vocabulary and comprehension of the text. 

By the end of Year 6, our ambition is for pupils’ reading to be sufficiently fluent and effortless so they are fully prepared for secondary school and beyond. 

It is imperative that reading is given the highest status within our curriculum and that its teaching is thorough, inclusive and ambitious. All of our children in school are read-to by staff on a daily basis and all enjoy a story at the end of the school day to foster the love of stories.

Several large longitudinal studies show that young people who develop the habit of reading in early childhood are likely to achieve high qualifications and upward social mobility later on. Together with the well-documented developmental benefits of reading, these findings point to reading as a powerful lever for reducing inequalities.

- Professor Teresa Cremin, Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University