“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss

At St Mary’s, we are a school that truly loves books. From EYFS through to Year 6, reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Our classrooms are rich with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts and children have access to our library, shared reading spaces and reading nook, ensuring that high-quality literature is always within reach.

We recognise the power of the teacher as a reading role model, and our staff regularly read to children, inspiring a love of literature and modelling fluent, expressive reading.

Curriculum Intent: Securing Firm Foundations

We believe that teaching a child to read is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Our reading curriculum is designed to ensure all children secure firm foundational knowledge and skills in decoding, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.

From Early Years to Year 6, our aim is for children to develop not only the technical skills to read but also positive, lifelong attitudes towards reading. Children are supported to become confident, fluent readers who can access the curriculum, engage with complex ideas and explore new experiences through literature.

Early Years and Key Stage 1: Phonics and Decoding

Decoding and word reading form the foundation of our Early Years and Key Stage 1 curriculum. Pupils begin by learning phonics systematically using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme. This evidence-informed approach is supported by the regional English Hub, ensuring best practice in phonics instruction.

• In Year 1, children focus on word reading fluency and phonics mastery, preparing them to access more complex texts and comprehension tasks in later years.

• High-quality decodable books are provided to reinforce phonics learning and allow children to practise at home, fostering reading confidence.

This systematic approach ensures that children secure the foundational skills needed for fluent reading, supporting their progression into comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and written expression.

Key Stage 2: Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary

As pupils move into Key Stage 2, the reading curriculum builds on firm foundations to develop:

• Reading fluency – enabling confident and automatic word recognition.

• Comprehension skills – allowing children to infer, analyse, summarise and evaluate texts.

• Vocabulary acquisition – recognising that around 90% of new vocabulary is encountered through reading; deliberate vocabulary instruction and a knowledge-rich wider curriculum support this.

Our approach draws on the latest research in vocabulary instruction, reading fluency and comprehension strategies, ensuring that pupils are equipped to understand, critique and enjoy increasingly complex texts.

Reading Across the Curriculum

Reading is embedded across all subject areas, with the literature spine serving both as a mirror, reflecting pupils’ experiences, and a window, exposing them to ideas and cultures beyond their own. High-quality texts to motivate, inspire and challenge pupils, ensuring that reading is a central driver of the English curriculum.

• Children read daily and engage in guided and independent reading activities to practise comprehension, vocabulary and expression.

• Assessment is ongoing, with pupils’ reading fluency and comprehension regularly monitored to provide targeted support and challenge, ensuring all pupils make excellent progress.

Impact

Through this carefully sequenced and ambitious curriculum, pupils at St Mary’s:

• Secure firm foundational knowledge and skills in phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.

• Develop confidence and enjoyment in reading, fostering lifelong engagement with texts.

• Gain the ability to access the full curriculum and think critically across subjects.

• Are exposed to a rich, diverse range of literature, developing both empathy and cultural awareness.

Our curriculum ensures that every child leaves St Mary’s as a competent, confident and enthusiastic reader, equipped to succeed in school and beyond.

National curriculum in England

Year 1 Super Six

Spring                                                 Autumn                                             Summer

Year 2 Super Seven

Spring                                                 Autumn                                              Summer

 

EYFS Nursery Rhymes/Books Overview

 

	Nursery	Reception
Autumn	Nursery Rhymes    Round and Round the  garden Miss Polly had a dolly  I’m a little teapot Twinkle, Twinkle Incy Wincy Spider   Songs  The Wheels on the bus If you’re happy  Heads, shoulders, knees and  toes  Dingle, dangle scarecrow Christmas   Books   The Gingerbread Man We’re Going on a Bear Hunt You Can’t Take an Elephant on a Bus Hairy MaClary	Nursery Rhymes    Jack and Jill Polly put the kettle on I hear thunder Hey diddle, diddle Remember, remember the 5th of  November   Songs Five Currant Buns Five Little Men in a flying saucer Ten in a bed Christmas Songs Nativity Songs   Books   Goldilocks and the Three Bears Stick Man Room on the Broom The Colour Monster The Jolly Postman
Spring	Nursery Rhymes    Humpty, Dumpty Baa, Baa Black Sheep Ring O’ Roses   Songs When Goldilocks went to  the house of the bears 5 Little Monkeys jumping on the bed Old McDonald had a farm 5 Little Ducks 5 Little Speckled Frogs Easter songs   Books    The Hungry Caterpillar Billy Goats Gruff Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear Who’s in the zoo?	Nursery Rhymes  It’s raining, it’s pouring Oh the Grand Old Duke of York 1 finger, 1 thumb Mary had a little lamb 1, 2 buckle my shoe Songs   Ten Fat Sausages  Alice the camel The Bear went over the mountain  Hot cross buns The animals went in 2 by 2 Easter songs   Books Jack and the Beanstalk Superworm Peace at last Odd dog out Somebody swallowed Stanley
Summer	Nursery Rhymes   2 Little Dickie Birds Horsey, Horsey  Row, Row, Row your boat   Songs    Jump, Jump, Jump Jim, Joe 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a  fish alive Over the deep blue sea   Books  Poo in the Zoo Three Little Pigs Farmer Duck Sharing a shell	Nursery Rhymes    Little Miss Muffet This little piggy went to market Mary, Mary Quite Contrary Ladybird, Ladybird She sells sea shells If all the world were paper Songs    A sailor went to sea, sea, sea When I was One Ten green bottles Ten Little Flowers Dancing in the  Sun   Books  Little Red Riding Hood Runaway pea Superpotato There’s a Bear on my Chair This Zoo is not for you

 

Reading in Reception and KS1