Our Approach to Reading

Intent

At Darras Hall Primary School, we view reading as the absolute gateway to the wider curriculum and a lifelong source of joy. We are committed to fostering a culture where every child develops the confidence, fluency, and comprehension skills necessary to explore the world through literature.

Our reading intent is built upon three core pillars:

• The Joy of Reading: To nurture a genuine love of books and stories, ensuring children view reading as an immersive experience rather than just a technical task.

• Mastery of Skills: To provide a rigorous, evidence-based progression that ensures every child becomes a fluent, independent reader who can tackle complex texts with resilience.

• Depth of Understanding: To ensure that reading is a bridge to knowledge, equipping children with the critical thinking skills needed to analyse, interpret, and enjoy what they read across all subjects.

Implementation

We ensure that every child embarks on a structured and supportive journey to becoming a fluent, confident reader. Our implementation is built upon a clear progression of skills:

Systematic Phonics

We follow the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised programme to teach phonics in Nursery, Reception, Year 1, and, where necessary, Year 2.

• Daily Sessions: Children participate in daily phonics sessions, either as a whole class or in targeted groups, to ensure consistent progress.

• The Phonics Screening Check: At the end of Year 1, children take the national Phonics Screening Check.

• Ongoing Support: For those who require it, we continue to provide high-quality phonics instruction into Year 3 and beyond to ensure no child is left behind.
   

Decodable Texts

To support our emerging readers, we provide a wide selection of books that are closely matched to the phonics sounds being taught in class. These "decodable texts" allow children to apply their growing knowledge in a practical, successful way, building both accuracy and confidence.

Accelerated Reader

Once children have secured their phonic knowledge and transitioned to becoming independent readers, they are introduced to the Accelerated Reader programme.

• Personalised Progression: Children move through reading levels that are tailored to their specific ability.

• Meaning and Engagement: The programme places a strong focus on gaining deep meaning from a wide range of high-quality texts.

• Knowledge Check: To ensure comprehension, children complete short online quizzes matched to the books they have read, which helps track their understanding and celebrate their successes.
   

Deepening Understanding: Reciprocal Reading

To move beyond decoding and into sophisticated comprehension, we utilise the Reciprocal Reading approach. This is a structured method that empowers pupils to master four core reading strategies:

• Questioning: Asking deeper questions about the text.

• Clarifying: Identifying and explaining tricky vocabulary or phrases.

• Summarising: Distilling the main ideas of a passage.

• Predicting: Using clues to anticipate what might happen next.

By teaching these strategies explicitly, we ensure that our pupils don’t just read the words on the page—they engage with them, analyse them, and truly understand them.