Reading
English is a vital subject in both education and society, equipping pupils with the skills to express their thoughts and emotions fluently. A high-quality English curriculum nurtures confidence in speaking and listening while fostering meaningful connections through reading and listening.
At Beeches Junior School, we are committed to maintaining high standards of language and literacy by providing pupils with strong spoken and written communication skills. We foster a lifelong love of reading and writing through frequent engagement with diverse, high-quality texts. Carefully selecting books for our English lessons, we ensure children are exposed to the best and most current literature, including titles that reflect modern society and celebrate a wide range of voices. By promoting inclusivity, we create a learning environment where every child feels represented, valued and inspired to explore the power of language. We strive to broaden pupils’ understanding, foster empathy, and enhance their cultural capital. As reading is a fundamental life skill, it is essential that all pupils are empowered to become confident, independent readers—capable of processing information effectively, engaging fully in their learning, and finding genuine enjoyment in the reading experience.
Learning to read
There are four key elements involved in reading, and each is allocated significant time in our curriculum.
1) Phonics – which gives children the ability to decode words.
2) Vocabulary – which helps understanding.
3) Fluency – developing tone and intonation to help form understanding.
4) Comprehension – the understanding of what has been read.
Aims
· Ensure all children have access to high-quality, age-appropriate literature that supports their reading development and fosters a lifelong love of books.
· Engage pupils with enriching texts that deepen comprehension while developing the language, structure, and confidence required for producing articulate and effective written work.
· Address the needs of all pupils to promote full inclusion and ensure that every learner can confidently develop and apply a broad range of reading skills.
· Receive high-quality first teaching and effective modelling of the key skills necessary to become a proficient reader, including:
- To give / explain the meaning of words in context
- To retrieve and record information / identify key details from fiction and non-fiction
-To summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph
- To make inferences from the text / explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text
- To predict what might happen from details stated and implied
- To identify / explain how information / narrative content is related and contributes to meaning as a whole
- To identify / explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases
- To make comparisons within the text
- To visualise meaning
- To Generate and ask questions
-To Activate and apply background knowledge
