At St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that reading is fundamental to every child’s success. It underpins learning across the curriculum and plays a vital role in developing pupils’ self belief, resilience and confidence.
We are committed to ensuring that all children become skilled, fluent readers who enjoy reading and understand its power to shape their learning, faith and future lives.
At St. Joseph’s, our intent is to ensure that all pupils:
- Learn to read quickly, securely and confidently
- Develop strong comprehension and language skills
- Build self belief as they experience success in reading
- Show resilience when tackling new vocabulary and challenging texts
- Become confident, independent readers who read for pleasure and purpose
- Are fully prepared for the next stage of their education
We are ambitious for all pupils and ensure early, effective support so that no child is left behind.
Our Implementation of Reading
Daily Phonics Teaching – Sounds Write
At St. Joseph’s, phonics is taught discretely and daily across the whole school from EYFS through to Year 6.
Early reading and ongoing phonics teaching are delivered through the Sounds Write phonics programme, a systematic, evidence based approach that supports pupils at every stage of their reading journey.
Through Sounds Write, pupils learn:
- That letters are symbols which represent sounds
- How to blend sounds to read unfamiliar words
- How to segment sounds for accurate spelling
- That sounds can be spelled in different ways
Daily discrete phonics lessons ensure:
- Consistency of approach across all year groups
- Rapid identification and support for gaps in learning
- Continued reinforcement of decoding and spelling skills beyond KS1
All staff delivering phonics are fully trained, and teaching is closely monitored to ensure high expectations and consistency.
This approach builds confidence and self belief, while developing the resilience needed to apply phonics skills independently to increasingly complex texts.
Developing Reading Fluency and Comprehension
Alongside daily phonics teaching, pupils further develop fluency and understanding through:
- Explicit teaching of comprehension skills, including inference, retrieval, prediction and summarising
- Regular opportunities for discussion and book talk
Teachers model fluent, expressive reading and promote confident responses to texts, helping pupils to articulate ideas and deepen understanding.
High quality texts are carefully selected to reflect:
- A wide range of genres and authors
- Diverse voices and experiences
- Increasing challenge as pupils progress through the school
Accelerated Reader
Once pupils are secure in phonics and reading with fluency, they move on to the Accelerated Reader programme.
Through Accelerated Reader:
- Pupils complete a reading assessment to identify their reading level
- Books are matched to pupils’ ability to ensure challenge and success
- Pupils read independently and regularly
- Quizzes assess comprehension and inform next steps
This programme supports pupils to:
- Take ownership of their reading
- Build confidence in selecting texts independently
- Develop resilience by engaging with longer and more challenging books
- Read widely and frequently
Teachers closely monitor progress and provide timely support or challenge as required.
Reading for Pleasure
At St. Joseph’s, nurturing a love of reading is central to our ethos.
We promote reading for pleasure by:
- Providing welcoming and well resourced reading environments
- Celebrating reading through assemblies, rewards and special events
- Encouraging book recommendations and discussion
- Strengthening links between school and home reading
Reading is recognised as joyful, enriching and empowering.
Our Impact of Reading
As a result of our reading curriculum at St. Joseph’s:
- Pupils become fluent, confident and enthusiastic readers
- Children demonstrate strong comprehension and vocabulary skills
- Pupils develop positive attitudes towards reading
- Children show increased self belief, recognising themselves as successful readers
- Pupils demonstrate resilience when encountering unfamiliar or challenging texts
- Strong reading outcomes support achievement across the wider curriculum
Impact is measured through:
- Regular phonics and reading assessments
- Accelerated Reader data
- Teacher assessment and pupil voice
- National outcomes where appropriate
Above all, pupils leave St. Joseph’s as confident readers, equipped with the skills, resilience and belief they need to thrive.