“English holds a unique place in our curriculum. Not only does it combine different elements, such as literature, language and linguistics, but it gives pupils a foundation of spoken language, reading and writing that enables them to think, talk and write about their world.”
Ofsted – English education subject report (2024)
At Cavendish Church of England Primary School, we believe reading opens doors.
It gives children access to knowledge, language, imagination and experiences beyond their own. We want every child to become a fluent, thoughtful and confident reader who can understand what they read, talk meaningfully about texts and develop a genuine enjoyment of books.
High-quality texts, rich vocabulary and purposeful talk sit at the heart of our English curriculum.
Reading reflects our school vision: We Learn. We Love. We Belong. Through books, children learn about themselves and the wider world; they encounter experiences and perspectives beyond their own; and they develop empathy, curiosity and a stronger understanding of what it means to belong.
Our Approach to Reading
Our reading curriculum changes appropriately as children become increasingly fluent and independent readers.
In Robins – Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, reading is built upon the secure foundations of Little Wandle phonics and reading practice, alongside shared reading, high-quality stories, purposeful talk and explicit vocabulary development.
In Wrens – Year 3 and Year 4 and Owls – Year 5 and Year 6, children move into our Faster Read approach, through which ambitious whole texts are read at a purposeful pace to develop fluency, stamina, vocabulary and comprehension.
Our whole-school English plan deliberately separates Faster Read texts from writing texts where this provides a stronger reading experience. Where a Writing Root text is sufficiently substantial and ambitious, it may also provide the Faster Read text.
Reading in Robins – EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2
For our youngest children, becoming a reader begins with learning to decode accurately and automatically.
Reception and Key Stage 1 pupils are taught through Little Wandle, ensuring a systematic approach to phonics and early reading.
Reading development is strengthened through:
- carefully matched reading practice;
- shared reading;
- rich story experiences;
- explicit vocabulary teaching;
- retelling and sequencing;
- prediction;
- discussion; and
- the beginnings of inference.
Reception children's experiences remain developmentally appropriate and rooted in the EYFS, with stories, oral language, rhyme, talk and repeated reading helping them develop the language and knowledge upon which later comprehension depends.
Our aim is for children to develop both the technical skills to read the words and the language and understanding needed to make meaning from them.
Faster Read in Wrens and Owls
From Year 3 onwards, our Faster Read approach provides sustained experience of complete, high-quality books.
Rather than relying predominantly upon isolated extracts, children spend time within a whole text. This allows them to follow characters and ideas over time, understand how plots and themes develop and make connections across a complete work.
Texts are deliberately selected to build:
fluency and stamina – children read increasingly substantial texts and sustain attention over longer periods;
vocabulary – ambitious language is encountered naturally within rich literary contexts;
comprehension and inference – children learn to draw together information from different parts of a text and support ideas with evidence;
authorial understanding – pupils increasingly consider how writers use language, structure, character and viewpoint to create meaning;
knowledge of the world – texts broaden children's experience of different lives, places, cultures, periods and perspectives.
Our LTP explicitly identifies Faster Read as the means through which pupils in Wrens and Owls secure stamina, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Ambitious Text Choices
The books children read matter.
Our Faster Read curriculum deliberately includes sustained and increasingly ambitious texts chosen for the quality of their language, ideas, characterisation and themes.
In Wrens, pupils encounter books exploring themes such as difference, survival, displacement, belonging, empathy, loss, responsibility, courage and perspective. Current texts include The Wild Robot, The Boy at the Back of the Class, Varjak Paw, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and The BFG.
In Owls, pupils move towards increasingly demanding texts including work by writers such as Katherine Rundell, Mira Bartók, Michael Morpurgo, Tom Palmer and Sharna Jackson, with texts selected to strengthen stamina, inference, vocabulary and understanding of authorial choices.
Across both cycles, children encounter classic and contemporary literature and texts offering a range of experiences and perspectives.
Talk at the Heart of Reading
At Cavendish, reading is not a silent, solitary activity alone.
Purposeful talk is central to comprehension.
Teachers model how skilled readers think, ask questions and make connections. Children are expected to discuss texts, rehearse ideas orally and listen carefully to different interpretations.
Through discussion, pupils learn to:
- explain what they think;
- refer back to the text;
- clarify unfamiliar vocabulary;
- make predictions;
- draw inferences;
- explore character motivation;
- make connections;
- challenge ideas respectfully; and
- refine their thinking after listening to others.
This means reading supports not only comprehension but also spoken language, vocabulary and writing.
Fluency
Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension.
In the early stages of reading, children work towards increasingly automatic word recognition through Little Wandle.
As children become secure decoders, teaching continues to develop their ability to read with accuracy, appropriate pace, phrasing and expression.
Faster Read provides important opportunities for children to encounter substantial amounts of connected text, helping them develop the stamina and confidence required to tackle increasingly demanding books.
Fluency remains something we develop throughout school — it does not end when phonics teaching ends.
The Cavendish 5 in Reading
As across our curriculum, the Cavendish 5 underpin high-quality reading teaching.
Retrieval
Children revisit vocabulary, previous events, characters and prior knowledge so that new sections of a text connect securely with what has already been read.
I Do, We Do, You Do
Teachers model how skilled readers approach unfamiliar vocabulary, make inferences, locate evidence and explain ideas before pupils increasingly apply these approaches independently.
Purposeful Practice
Children repeatedly practise reading, discussion and comprehension within meaningful whole-text contexts.
High-Quality Questioning
Questions require children to recall, explain, infer, predict, make connections, evaluate and justify their thinking using evidence from the text.
Feedback
Responsive feedback helps children address misunderstandings, refine explanations and use increasingly precise vocabulary when discussing what they have read.
Vocabulary and Knowledge
Understanding a text depends upon more than being able to decode its words.
Children need vocabulary and background knowledge to make sense of what they read.
For this reason, unfamiliar language, concepts and contextual knowledge are deliberately explained and revisited.
Teachers support children to understand vocabulary within the context of the text while also helping them build connections between words and concepts they have encountered previously.
Our high-quality reading curriculum therefore contributes to children's wider knowledge and supports them across the curriculum.
Reading, Diversity and the Wider World
Books allow children to encounter lives they may never otherwise experience.
Our text choices provide opportunities for children to explore different families, cultures, identities, historical experiences and perspectives.
We want children both to recognise something of themselves within literature and to encounter people and experiences that are different from their own.
Texts are not selected simply because they represent a particular theme. They must also offer the quality, language and literary richness required to develop children as readers.
Through thoughtful discussion, children learn to approach different experiences with curiosity, empathy and respect.
Inclusion in Reading
Every child is entitled to access rich and ambitious reading.
For pupils who are still securing decoding, appropriate phonics intervention and reading practice are used so that gaps are addressed rather than allowed to widen.
Within shared and whole-class reading, teachers may adapt access through:
- explicit vocabulary teaching;
- additional background knowledge;
- repeated reading;
- pre-teaching;
- oral rehearsal;
- visual support;
- carefully targeted questioning;
- partner discussion; and
- additional teacher modelling.
Our principle is to remove barriers without reducing the ambition of the text.
Children who require support should still have access to the rich stories, vocabulary and ideas experienced by their peers.
Assessment in Reading
Assessment takes place through children's everyday reading and responses to texts.
Teachers use reading practice, questioning, discussion, retrieval, pupil explanation and comprehension work to understand what children know and where additional teaching may be required.
We consider whether pupils can:
- decode accurately and fluently;
- understand increasingly sophisticated vocabulary;
- retrieve relevant information;
- make and justify inferences;
- summarise and make connections;
- discuss characters, themes and viewpoints;
- explain ideas using evidence; and
- sustain understanding across a complete text.
Assessment is used to identify gaps and misconceptions so that teaching can respond quickly.
We value what children can say and explain about a text, not simply how many written comprehension questions they can complete.
Reading for Pleasure
Alongside our taught reading curriculum, we want children to develop a genuine love of books and reading.
Children experience stories, poetry and non-fiction through class reading and opportunities to encounter books beyond those studied formally.
Adults model enthusiasm for literature and help children discover authors, genres and subjects that interest them.
Our aim is for reading to become something children recognise not merely as a school subject, but as a source of knowledge, comfort, curiosity, imagination and enjoyment.
Reading and Our Christian Vision
Reading helps children encounter the complexity and richness of human experience.
Through literature, children explore themes including love, courage, justice, difference, hope, belonging, responsibility and compassion.
Books offer opportunities to see the world through another person's eyes, encouraging children to listen to different voices and recognise the dignity and worth of others.
This connects naturally with our Christian vision. We want children to grow as thoughtful readers who approach both texts and people with curiosity, wisdom and generosity.
Reading helps us learn about others, understand one another and recognise that stories can bring people and communities together.
The Impact of Reading at Cavendish
By the time children leave Cavendish, we want them to be fluent, confident and thoughtful readers.
They should be able to read increasingly ambitious texts with stamina, discuss literature with confidence, understand and use a rich vocabulary and support their ideas with evidence.
They should be able to move beyond simply understanding what happens in a text to consider why it happens, how an author has shaped their response and what the text might help them understand about themselves and the wider world.
Most importantly, we want children to leave us believing that reading is something they can do, can enjoy and can continue throughout their lives.
We Learn. We Love. We Belong.