Our Commitment to Reading at West Wycombe School

At West Wycombe School, we are deeply committed to fostering a love of reading, recognising it as the foundation of academic success and lifelong learning. Reading is the key to unlocking knowledge across all subjects, broadening perspectives, and nurturing curiosity. Our mission is to instil a lasting love of literature in every student, equipping them with the skills and confidence to become independent, enthusiastic readers.

Our Intent

We strive to embed a rich reading culture throughout our school, ensuring that every student develops a passion for books and a strong foundation in literacy. Our aims are to:

• Build confident and fluent readers, enabling students to engage with texts independently and enjoy reading for life.
• Cultivate a genuine enthusiasm for literature, encouraging imagination, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the world.
• Equip students with the ability to access a broad, ambitious curriculum through structured reading instruction.
• Provide access to a wide range of texts that celebrate diverse voices, perspectives, and cultures.

Our Implementation

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and pupils have the opportunity to read in a multitude of ways every day: as a whole class, in small groups and through one-on-one sessions, both independently and with an adult.

Early reading begins when our children first start school with us. In Reception, we focus on helping children settle into school by sharing stories about starting school and making friends. Each day concludes with a story chosen by the class, followed by a discussion to assess comprehension and encourage engagement. As the year progresses, children are introduced to predicting what might happen next in a story, enhancing their inference skills. Each week, through Drawing Club, children explore a new story that links to their current topic. Key vocabulary is introduced at the start of each lesson to support comprehension and language development. To reinforce learning, new words are paired with actions, making vocabulary acquisition interactive and memorable.

From the third week of the Autumn term, children begin learning a new sound each day. Initially, they are introduced to wordless books to develop an understanding of book handling and storytelling. They learn how to care for books, turn pages correctly, and follow the correct reading sequence. Children engage by narrating, predicting and discussing what might happen next in a story. Once children have mastered the initial sounds (s, a, t, p, i, n), they move onto books that support these phonetic sounds, blending using the 'sound it, squash it, say it' method. Many books contain repeated words to build confidence and fluency, and re-reading is encouraged to reinforce learning. The synthetic programme of Phonics Shed moves the children through the phonetic phases progressively and books are matched to children's ability. As children advance, they read books that incorporate newly learned sounds and common exception words that do not follow standard phonetic rules. Our structured approach ensures steady development in fluency and comprehension.

As children move through KS1, their reading continues to progress through structured and sequenced lessons. Children continue to read daily with an adult and our lowest 20% of readers read more often to ensure they make rapid progress. Where phonics is a primary focus in EYFS and Year 1, from Year 2 onwards the focus is primarily on comprehension, as the expectation is that children will read with an appropriate level of fluency by the end of Year 2. In any instances where this is not the case, children are supported through additional intervention.

Children in KS2 read daily during whole class reading and opportunities are made to read in other subjects too. Throughout the week, we place a strong emphasis on reading fluency, which helps children develop their understanding of punctuation and expression. By refining these skills, students enhance their comprehension and overall enjoyment of texts. At the start of each week, we introduce a specific reading skill, which is explicitly taught and then reinforced through structured questions linked to the class text. These may include: vocabulary, inference, prediction, explaining, retrieval, sequencing for KS1 and summarising for KS2. By the end of the week, children apply this skill independently to an unfamiliar text, which could be fiction, non-fiction, or poetry. This approach ensures they can transfer their learning to a variety of reading materials. 

We create engaging reading environments across the school to further promote a love of reading. Each classroom has a dedicated reading corner, filled with a diverse selection of books to encourage independent reading. These areas provide a comfortable space for children to explore a range of texts, with adults available to prompt discussions and enhance their understanding.

We also celebrate reading throughout the year with special events such as World Book Day and other themed reading days, where children immerse themselves in stories and literature in creative ways. Additionally, we enhance our reading culture with book doors, where classroom doors are decorated to reflect the current focus text, sparking curiosity and excitement about the books being studied. We recognise the importance of reading at home to practise and embed reading skills. Home reading is carefully tracked through use of our Reading Records. 

We are also embedding a love for reading across the wider curriculum, exposing children to a broad range of genres, authors, and texts beyond English lessons. By integrating literacy into all subject areas, we ensure that reading remains a central and enjoyable part of our pupils’ learning journey.

Through this structured and immersive approach, we aim to instill a lifelong passion for reading in all our pupils.

Measuring Our Impact

By the end of the Reception year, children working at the expected level of development in comprehension will be able to:

• Retell stories and narratives in their own words, using recently introduced vocabulary.
• Anticipate key events in stories.
• Use and understand new vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction texts, rhymes, and poems.
• For word reading, children at the expected level will be able to:
• Say a sound for each letter of the alphabet and at least ten digraphs.
• Read words by blending sounds according to their phonetic knowledge.
• Read aloud simple sentences and books that align with their phonetic knowledge, including some common exception words.

By the end of KS1 and KS2, the success of our reading curriculum is reflected in:

• Academic Excellence: Students demonstrate strong reading skills, enabling them to fully engage with all areas of the curriculum and achieve well in KS2 SATs by the time they leave us.
• Increased Engagement: A visible enthusiasm for reading across the school, with students actively choosing to read, and engaging in discussions about books.
• Broadened Horizons: Exposure to diverse texts that enhance cultural awareness, empathy, and a deeper appreciation of literature.
• Lifelong Readers: A lasting love of reading that extends beyond the classroom, fostering intellectual and personal growth.

Our dedication to reading is unwavering. Through a carefully designed curriculum and an inspiring reading environment, we nurture confident, capable, and passionate readers who carry their love of books with them for life.