Reading
What We Want Children to Learn
At Carrwood we believe that reading is at the heart of all learning and a key life skill that opens the door to the wider world. Our English curriculum is carefully structured in line with the National Curriculum for each year group, ensuring a clear and progressive journey in reading from EYFS through to Year 6. We recognise that learning to read requires explicit teaching, practice and encouragement, and so reading is woven throughout all aspects of school life.
By the end of their primary education, we want every child to read fluently, accurately and with confidence. We are committed to supporting children to first learn to read and then to read to learn, enabling them to access the full curriculum and develop as independent learners. Through exposure to high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts, we nurture a love of reading and aim to inspire children to see themselves as readers, both in school and beyond.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we place a strong emphasis on the development of communication and language, recognising that these skills underpin all future learning. Our environments are rich in language, and adults model high-quality interactions to support children’s speaking and listening. Children are immersed in stories, non-fiction texts, rhymes and poetry, helping them to build early reading skills alongside a love of books.
As children move through the school, we support them to become curious and reflective readers who can read with confidence, fluency and understanding. We encourage children to find enjoyment and pleasure in reading, while also developing the skills needed to access all areas of the curriculum. Pupils are taught to retrieve, interpret and begin to manage information effectively, to understand the meaning of what they read and hear, and to respond thoughtfully and critically. Over time, we aim for all children to grow into independent, lifelong readers who value reading as an important and enriching part of their lives.
Our curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and fully aligned with the National Curriculum. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils, including those with SEND, are supported and challenged to achieve well, so that every child can succeed and feel part of our reading community.
How We Teach It
Our reading curriculum is carefully sequenced from the Early Years through to Year 6, ensuring that knowledge and skills are built progressively over time. At the heart of our approach is a commitment to high-quality literature. We thoughtfully select key texts from the very best of children’s literature to enrich pupils’ cultural capital and deepen their understanding of the world. These texts act as both windows into different lives and experiences, and mirrors that reflect children’s own identities and communities.
Reading is prioritised across the school, with rich exposure to language and books forming a central part of daily practice. High-quality texts are used not only within English lessons but also across the wider curriculum, helping to foster a genuine love of reading. Story time is a valued part of each day; during this time, teachers model fluent, expressive reading and bring stories to life, creating shared experiences that inspire enthusiasm and enjoyment.
Early reading is taught with precision and consistency through a systematic synthetic phonics programme – Read Write Inc. Children begin to develop early phonics awareness in Nursery, with daily phonics teaching continuing throughout Reception and Key Stage 1. We ensure that all children are given the best possible start by providing reading books that closely match their phonic knowledge. This allows pupils to decode confidently and experience success, which is crucial in developing both fluency and motivation. Books are carefully organised into progressive levels, and children read texts that are closely aligned to their current stage of reading development.
As children become secure in their phonics knowledge—typically by the end of Year 2—they transition to a more skills-based approach to reading. Teaching focuses on developing key comprehension skills through carefully planned sessions. Each session has a clear focus, using high-quality questioning, discussion and oracy-based activities to deepen understanding. We place great importance on making reading lessons engaging and purposeful, so that pupils continue to develop both their enjoyment and their confidence as readers.
A carefully selected core set of texts underpins our English curriculum in every year group. We follow a structured, three-phase approach to teaching English, beginning with a reading-focused phase. During this phase, pupils explore high-quality texts in depth, with each lesson linked to specific reading skills. In Key Stage 1, teaching focuses on developing understanding of vocabulary, retrieval, sequencing, inference and prediction. In Key Stage 2, pupils build on these foundations and are additionally taught to analyse relationships within texts, consider the impact of word choices and make comparisons across texts. Through this coherent and ambitious approach, we aim to ensure that all children become confident, capable readers who not only understand what they read but also develop a lifelong enjoyment of books.
What Children Will Achieve
As a result of our carefully planned and consistently delivered reading curriculum, children leave our school as confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers. They develop the ability to read accurately and with understanding, applying a secure knowledge of phonics alongside strong comprehension skills. Pupils are able to engage with a wide range of high-quality texts, drawing on a rich vocabulary and a broad knowledge of the world to support their understanding. They think critically about what they read, making connections, exploring meaning and responding thoughtfully to texts. Children become independent learners who can use reading to access all areas of the curriculum and manage information effectively. Importantly, they develop a genuine love of reading, seeing themselves as readers both within school and beyond. By the end of Year 6, our pupils are well-prepared for the next stage of their education, equipped not only with the skills to succeed academically but also with the confidence and motivation to continue reading for pleasure throughout their lives.
Our Vision
At Carrwood, our vision is to create a vibrant community of confident, enthusiastic and lifelong readers. We believe that reading is the foundation of all learning and are committed to ensuring that every child develops the skills, knowledge and passion needed to succeed. Through a carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum, rooted in high-quality literature, we aim to provide all pupils with rich and meaningful reading experiences that broaden their horizons and reflect their own lives. We strive for every child to leave our school able to read fluently, think deeply about what they read and use reading as a tool to access the wider curriculum and the world beyond. By fostering a love of books, nurturing curiosity and promoting inclusion at every stage, we aim to ensure that all children—regardless of background or need—see themselves as capable readers and valued members of our reading community, ready to continue their journey with confidence and enjoyment.
Our Reading Diet
We provide our children with all reading genres so that they can determine what they most enjoy reading. We use pupil voice to ensure that we regularly update the reading matter that is available in school. Every teacher reads to their class daily and each class displays their ‘current read’ for all to see.
Weekly Reading Sessions
Nursery and Reception parents and carers are invited into school each week. In Nursery, parents are invited to attend ‘Rhyme time’ sessions and in Reception, staff hold a weekly reading morning.
Exposure to a range of authors
In order to develop our children’s knowledge of classic and modern authors we have termly ‘Year Group Authors’. Each class is provided with a selection of their authors books and these are shared throughout the term
Reading for Pleasure Mini Libraries
Each child in school takes home a ‘reading for pleasure’ book which has been chosen from their class library. Each class also has access to the school library and we also run weekly library and storytelling clubs. We have many inviting reading areas around school which also support this.
Reading Events
We actively promote reading events such as, ‘World Book Day’, ‘National Poetry Week’, ‘Breakfast with a Book’ and ‘National Storytelling Week’. We invite parents and carers to take part in these events to help promote the importance of reading at home.
Reading at Home
Each child in school takes home two books per week. Children who are accessing the RWI programme take home a decodable reading book which is matched to their phonics level. This book will have been read in their phonics lesson the previous week. They will also take home a RWI ‘Book Bag Book’. Once children have completed the RWI programme, they then take home a book from their class library. Every child in school also takes home a ‘reading for pleasure’ book. Each child has a reading bookmark. Each time they read at home their bookmark is signed and once it is full it is returned to their class postbox. Each half term a winning bookmark is drawn from the box!
Poetry
‘Poetry in language rich classrooms builds shared memories for all children’ (DFE 2021). At Carrwood, each year group is allocated a core selection of poems to learn throughout the year. Poetry anthologies are displayed in every classroom.
Writing
What We Want Children to Learn
At Carrwood Primary School, our English teaching programme follows the structure of the National Curriculum for each year group. Our English long and medium term plans demonstrate how this is delivered. We want all pupils to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing. We are committed to creating opportunities in writing that are inspired by meaningful events, experiences in texts and real life so that our pupils:
- Develop enjoyment and confidence in writing
- Write for a wide range of purposes and audiences
- Understand and apply the key skills of writing, including planning, drafting, editing and proofreading
- Use phonics knowledge and independent strategies to support accurate spelling
- Form letters correctly and develop fluent, joined handwriting
- Use grammar and punctuation accurately to enhance meaning
- Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar terminology to discuss and improve their writing
- Understand how writing supports learning across all subjects
Petals & Nursery
Mark making is one of the key building blocks in developing early writing. A key area for the development of writing in the early years is the physical aspect of mark making. In our early years settings we provide many opportunities that aid our youngest children’s physical development, enabling them to develop their gross, and then fine motor skills.
Reception
The foundational skills for early writing development that take place in Petals and Nursery are built upon in Reception. Here our pupils are taught to write letters using the Read Write Inc letter formation and they are taught to use their phonic knowledge to write words and sentences in ways that match their spoken sounds. Additionally, Greg Bottrill’s Drawing Club approach is also used to engage children in storytelling and develop early writing through imagination, talk and creativity.
KS1 and KS2
Children build progressively on their reading, writing and grammar skills in line with the National Curriculum, developing a secure and increasingly sophisticated understanding over time. They learn and apply spelling patterns, rules and statutory word lists to support accuracy, while also gaining a clear understanding of writing structures and features across a wide range of genres. As their skills develop, they become increasingly confident in adapting their writing to suit different audiences and purposes
How We Teach It
We follow the National Curriculum and deliver English through carefully planned long- and medium-term sequences. In Year 1, Greg Bottrill’s approach is also used to engage children in storytelling and develop early writing through imagination, talk and creativity. From Year 2 onwards, writing is taught through a clear three-phase approach. The reading phase focuses on developing key comprehension skills such as retrieval, inference, prediction and summarising, while using high-quality texts to model effective writing. This is followed by the skills phase, where spelling, punctuation and grammar are taught explicitly, giving children opportunities to practise and refine specific aspects of writing. In the final writing phase, children are supported through the use of a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like), with a strong emphasis on audience and purpose. Teaching includes shared and modelled writing, guiding pupils through the full writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.
Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through English lessons as much as possible. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the aspects of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing purpose. Teachers sometimes focus on particular grammar and punctuation skills as stand-alone lessons; if they feel that the class need additional lessons to embed and develop their understanding or to consolidate skills.
Spelling & Handwriting
Children in year one follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme and within these sessions they spell words containing each of the 40+ phonemes taught. During English lessons they are taught to spell common exception words along with the spelling rules as outlined in the National Curriculum for English.
Children in years two to six complete the Pathways to Spell spelling programme, which is a proven approach to spelling in line with the National Curriculum. These children are also taught to spell words from the statutory word lists.
Learning to form letters requires sustained practice, precision and careful teaching. In line with the expectations of the 2025 Writing Framework, our youngest children are explicitly taught correct letter formation through the Read Write Inc programme, ensuring that accuracy is secured from the earliest stages. As children become increasingly confident and consistent, they progress to a joined handwriting style using Letter-join. Our approach recognises that handwriting is a foundational transcription skill that must be secure and increasingly automatic in order to support high-quality composition.
Handwriting is taught progressively so that, by the end of Key Stage 2, pupils can write fluently, legibly and with increasing speed, choosing an appropriate style for different purposes. We aim for handwriting to become an automatic process, enabling children to focus their cognitive effort on composing, organising and refining their ideas, rather than on the physical act of writing
What Children Will Achieve
By the time children leave Carrwood Primary School, they will be confident and independent writers who can write effectively for a range of audiences and purposes. They will use a rich and appropriate vocabulary to communicate their ideas clearly, while applying accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling. Their handwriting will be fluent, joined and legible, enabling them to present their work with clarity. Children will demonstrate a secure understanding of the writing process, including planning, drafting, editing and redrafting, and will be able to reflect on and improve their own work. They will confidently transfer their writing skills across the wider curriculum and, importantly, will take pride in their writing and see themselves as successful authors.
Our Vision
At Carrwood Primary School, our vision is that every child leaves primary education as a confident, capable writer who can communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions with clarity and creativity. We aim to foster a love of writing by providing meaningful and engaging opportunities linked to real-life experiences and high-quality texts. Writing is valued across the curriculum, and we want our children to see themselves as writers with a purpose and an audience. We are committed to developing fluent, independent writers who take pride in their work, understand the writing process, and can effectively reflect on and improve their own writing.
