Curriculum Intent 

At St. Mary’s RC Primary School we believe that reading is the cornerstone of a child’s educational journey and lifelong learning. Our intent is to foster a culture of reading that promotes a love for literature and equips every child with the skills, knowledge, and understanding needed to engage with a diverse range of texts.  We recognise that reading is not only a foundational skill for academic success but also a vital tool for personal and social development. Our curriculum is designed to: 

• Develop a Lifelong Passion for Reading: We aim to instil a love of reading for pleasure, recognising its intrinsic value in personal development, cultural understanding, and empathy. 

• Ensure Proficient Reading Skills: Every child will become a competent reader by the end of Key Stage 2, achieving fluency through systematic phonics instruction and a rich vocabulary. 

• Culturally Inclusive Curriculum: We provide a wide range of reading materials representing various cultures, perspectives, and authors to encourage inclusivity and broader worldviews. 

• Nurture Critical Thinking: Through reading, we aim to develop critical thinking skills, enabling pupils to engage deeply with texts and make connections between their reading and the world around them. 

• Support Inclusivity and Accessibility: We are committed to ensuring that every pupil, regardless of their starting point or background, has access to reading materials that reflect their interests and experiences, promoting inclusivity and engagement. 

• Teach children about social injustice and how it can be overcome. We teach children to be respectful and effective communicators. 

Whole School Aims	Through Reading…
To have Christ at the centre of everything we do.  To provide opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident, resilient, successful & motivated learners with high aspirations who know how to make a positive and transformational contribution to their local community and wider global society.	At St. Mary’s we aim to spread the Word of God.  We teach children to read and speak well as these (alongside writing) are the skills they will need in making Christ known to the world.  We set high expectations for all children, enabling them to have the skills that will allow them to communicate and express themselves in an ever-changing society.
To be firmly rooted in the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.  Inspired by Pope Francis, St. Mary’s Curriculum encourages our pupils to grow in self-awareness and become advocates of social justice.	At St. Mary’s we want our children to be advocates of social justice.  Our reading curriculum introduces children to many key themes including injustice and compassion.  Through understanding and questioning these key themes, our children are more ready to highlight social injustices in the world around them.
To challenge all pupils, regardless of disadvantages or special needs, to be the greatest example of themselves.  Through experiences both inside and outside of the classroom, pupils are provided with a purpose and relevance for learning, which allows them to develop their own personal strengths and interests.	At St. Mary’s, our staff have high expectations of all pupils, regardless of their backgrounds and starting points.  Reading is a key component of all curriculum areas and by developing readers, we are developing pupils who have a love of all subjects and provide them with the keys to unlock otherwise hidden potential.
St Mary’s Curriculum develops the key skills necessary for all our pupil and promotes high expectations of standards and enjoyment in Reading, Writing and Maths across all subject areas.	Early reading and phonics are integral to promoting high expectations across all subjects within our school curriculum.  Through exposure to high quality texts, we want children to be keen readers, excited to pick up a book and open a world of many opportunities.
To develop pupils with a broad and lasting knowledge of subject specific vocabulary.	Through a high-quality curriculum, all pupils will develop their range of vocabulary which will be transferable across all subjects.   A good understanding of reading skills and a wide vocabulary bank lends itself to highly confident, independent learners who can infer and deduce a greater deal of information and disseminate it in a range of ways.
To empower pupils to respect each other and themselves, show respect and understanding for people of all faiths, race and gender, and for all living things, promoting stewardship and to ensure all pupils are well prepared for life in a rapidly changing world.	Through reading a range of high-quality texts, with relevant themes, we teach children about social injustice and how it can be overcome.  We teach our children to become respectful and effective communicators.

Implementation 

At St Mary’s RC Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.  

Please see our Phonics Curriculum Document further information.  

Reading Lesson Approach and Teaching Methods  

Once children complete the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme, they take part in daily reading lessons where pupils in each class all share the same text and develop different reading comprehension skills. The texts are carefully selected to complement the wider curriculum and to ensure that children are given opportunities to meet a range of authors, genres and text types. These whole class reading lessons or small group guided lessons (with younger children), support the development of fluency and comprehension skills.  

Teachers use a variety of strategies, including modelling, questioning, paired talk, written and oral feedback during lessons. Children are encouraged to ask and answer questions and consider the author’s intent and purpose and discuss new vocabulary and the impact that language has on the reader. We use Literacy Shed Plus comprehension resources, alongside other resources to support the teaching of reading comprehension skills with a focus on Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Retrieve, Explain and Summarise (VIPERS). Older children record any written outcomes in reading lessons in a reading journal. 

At St. Mary’s we follow a set weekly structure: 

Monday – Children read the text independently, highlighting any words that the children do not know. Challenging vocabulary is then picked out and the meanings discussed. Teachers to listen to children as they are reading.  

Tuesday – The same text to be read aloud with a focus on prosody. Recap on vocabulary and independent vocabulary task to be completed in books.  

Wednesday -Focus on one VIPERS skill which is taught and an independent task to be completed in books.  

Thursday  - Focus on a second VIPERS skill which is taught and an independent task to be completed in books.  

Friday – Mixture of VIPERS questions – to be completed in books.  

VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the six reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. 

VIPERS stands for 

• Vocabulary 

• Inference 

• Prediction 

• Explanation 

• Retrieval 

• Sequence or Summarise 

The six domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc.  As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and students are familiar with, a range of questions.   

In Foundation Stage and Key Stage One, teachers may use guided reading record notes and comments in reading diaries to support their assessments of progress and attainment and to inform future planning. In Key Stage Two, written outcomes in reading journals and ongoing assessment within lessons are also used.  

In all key stages, children are expected to read at home as part of their homework. To continue our partnership with parents, we encourage them to make comments in the diaries and sign them.  

To promote a love of reading, each class has regular whole class reading sessions where the class teacher will read a story for pleasure and enjoyment. Although the books are linked to the Reading Curriculum in terms of ability and vocabulary, these sessions stand alone to promote and encourage reading as a pleasurable activity.   

The expected impact of our reading curriculum is that:  

• Through the teaching of systematic phonics, we expect the majority of children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, children can focus on developing their fluency and comprehension as they move through the school. 

• We have exceptional outcomes: data shows that 90% of pupils achieve the expected standard in reading by the end of Key Stage 2, with 40% exceeding expected levels, demonstrating the effectiveness of our phonics and reading strategies. 

• Our pupils are engaged and motivated: pupil voice surveys indicate a high level of enthusiasm for reading, with  students expressing a love for reading and stating that they enjoy sharing their thoughts about books. 

• Our pupils are culturally aware: our diverse reading materials have enhanced cultural understanding among pupils, fostering an environment of inclusivity where children appreciate and celebrate differences. 

• We have parental satisfaction: feedback from parents highlights their increased involvement in supporting their children’s reading. 

• We have pupils with critical thinking skills: observations and discussions during guided reading sessions reveal that students are able to make extensive connections between texts and their own experiences, demonstrating the development of critical thinking skills. 

Through our commitment to an outstanding reading curriculum, St. Mary’s RC Primary School successfully cultivates a community of enthusiastic, competent, and culturally aware readers, prepared to embrace the complex world around them.