"Reading takes me to magical places” Year 6 child, Q1E

“It feels like a new world” Year 3 child, Q1E

“The ethos of ‘learn to read and read to learn’ shines through.”  Ofsted, 2019

Our overall approach is "learning to read, reading to learn". 

Our aim is that all children are fluent, confident and independent readers. 

We want to lead them to a world of discovery through books and to be delighted, informed, challenged, educated and entertained in their reading. 

We are proud of our:

• exceptional range of carefully chosen, inspiring, new and classic books
• engaging, dynamic phonics programme
• comprehensive, ambitious programmes of study for all ages 
• excellent training for staff and parents in our approach to teaching reading

Our LEARN approach

Our curriculum approach applies to every aspect of our reading curriculum. 

Learners

• become independent, confident, skilled readers 
• experience an inspirational world-class reading curriculum
• read and are read to from a wide-ranging, vibrant choice of texts
• collaborate and contribute to deepen each other's understanding

Ambition

• precision and high expectations in teaching of reading skills 
• award-winning authors, challenging themes, ideas, contexts
• new ideas, concepts, people, places, perspectives

Engagement

• dynamic, fun and effective phonics teaching 
• an exceptional range of new and classic books  
• books carefully pitched to age, abilities and interests of children

Relevance

• books reflect diversity – gender, race, disability
• children see themselves represented
• address contemporary themes/issues through texts
• evaluation and critical reading to question the accuracy or truth of what has been read 

Nurture

• themes  develop empathy and understanding
• becoming a reader develops personal growth
• texts develop awareness of global and local issues

Our Overviews for Reading
 

Our Reading Progression overview shows the expectations and progression of the key reading skills from Nursery to Year 6.   This helps teachers and parents to know which are the key skills for each year group. 

The range of texts children read in class and the books that are read to them by their teachers is reviewed and improved all the time.  Our current selections are on the images below.

Our exciting range of reading texts within the English curriculum all inspire writing in a whole range of forms. See our writing page. 

Learning to Read
 

Our bespoke, systematic synthetic approach to teaching early reading and phonics is:

• always given a high priority in the school day
• highly structured, building confidence and skills rapidly for independence
• matched to the phases of ‘Letters and Sounds’ and includes phonics and 'words to learn'
• engaging through use of clear symbols, songs, actions and resources
• based on a track record of excellence and delivers excellent outcomes.

We develop motivation and interest through: 

• skilled, committed and engaging teaching of reading
• an excellent quality and range of shared resources
• an inspirational range of books for children to read and for teachers to read to them
• use of clear, consistent strategies for teaching word reading
• a charming, helpful  (and sometimes cheeky) phonics bear (Fred or Tom)
• high-quality training for staff and parents. 

 Join in and watch the videos of our phonic actions. 

Reading to Learn
 

'The ultimate goal of reading is comprehension’

• an excellent, inspiring range of texts in our curriculum
• a clear structure based on reciprocal reading 
• clear teaching steps to help understanding
• high-quality training for teachers 
• an approach which works for all ages
• a model for children to 'talk themselves into a better understanding'

Download Q1E Reading to Learn approach. 

“I enjoy the clarification part when we go over the misunderstood sections" Key Stage 2 child, Q1E