Booker Hill School

Summary of our rigorous and sequential Reading curriculum

Our aims for reading

At Booker Hill we want to develop communities of readers who read because they want to—because they enjoy the excitement and surprise that reading can bring.

In 1999, the International Reading Association claimed (Moore et al., 1999, p.3): ‘Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history. They will need literacy to feed their imaginations so they can create the world of the future. ‘

Therefore, it is imperative that we begin to feed pupils’ imaginations from an early age so that they will develop a love of reading, thus enabling them to learn the skills needed for communication and success in this information rich world in which we live.

Reading for enjoyment is an essential part of learning to read, as pupils who enjoy reading will read      frequently and more widely and therefore will have a broader experience of the types of information that they will encounter in later life. Similarly, through developing a passion for literature, our pupils can enjoy the vast experiences held within fiction and will be able to think more creatively through all areas of life.

The National Curriculum outlines the requirements of any reading curriculum, with the Curriculum 14 document also listing the importance of reading for pleasure.

Children are taught Early Reading using the Read, Write, Inc. phonics scheme and children in Key Stage 2 who need additional support also use the materials within Read, Write, Inc as part of their reading curriculum. Children working within the phonics curriculum have decodable books for home reading and those reading beyond the phonics stages have PM books (predominantly lower key stage 2) and Badger Reading books for their home reading. All children are encouraged to visit the school and class libraries to select books to read for enjoyment at home with parents.

Phonics is taught alongside or is followed by a variety of reading approaches including reciprocal / guided comprehension, whole class reading vipers lessons, Comprehension Ninja to teach retrieval and questions stems and whole class comprehension of visual and auditory texts using an exciting  approach designed by teacher Jo Payne. More information about our approaches can be found through visiting the pages and documents within the links below.

Click here for a link to the national curriculum for Reading.