Reading
Vision
At Cayley, our vision is to ignite a lifelong love of reading in every child. We are committed to nurturing confident, thoughtful, and curious readers who not only develop strong decoding and comprehension skills but also experience the joy, excitement, and imagination that reading can bring. Our goal is to create a vibrant reading culture where every child is inspired to read widely and often, exploring a diverse range of texts and authors, and developing the skills to engage with stories, poetry, and information with enthusiasm and resilience. Through a rich, immersive, and inclusive reading curriculum, we aim to spark curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong passion for reading.
Intent
The reading curriculum at Cayley is designed to foster both skill and enjoyment. Pupils learn to:
- develop strong phonics, fluency, and comprehension skills
- explore a wide range of genres and authors, fostering curiosity and imagination
- respond thoughtfully to texts, sharing insights and personal connections
- build vocabulary, inference, and analytical skills
- develop confidence and a sense of achievement as readers
We aim for every child to experience reading as a source of pleasure and discovery, encouraging them to read independently, at home, and for pleasure beyond school.
Implementation
Reading begins in Nursery with phonics through the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme. Nursery sessions are 15 minutes long, while Reception and Year 1 phonics lessons last 45 minutes. From Years 2–6, pupils have daily guided reading lessons of 30 minutes, following our reading framework of fluency, extended reading, close reading, and written comprehension. Learning is recorded in reading books, which capture progress and engagement with texts.
Planning follows RWI phonics lessons for early readers and the Reading Framework for guided reading sessions. Slide decks and lesson sequences ensure consistency across KS1 and KS2. Lessons are planned from texts in the Reading long-term plan and follow the year group-specific sequence:
- Phonics: maintain fidelity to RWI lesson plans
- KS1: Monday to Friday – Fluency, Extended, Fluency, Extended, Written Comprehension
- LKS2: Monday to Friday – Fluency, Fluency, Extended, Close, Written Comprehension
- UKS2: Monday to Friday – Fluency, Extended, Extended, Close, Written Comprehension
Adaptations ensure accessibility for all pupils, including pre-teaching vocabulary, sentence stems, word banks, widgets, and visual aids. Early reading includes targeted phonics groups and sensory phonics sessions to meet pupils’ individual needs.
Enrichment and enjoyment are promoted through reading for pleasure sessions, book corner time, author studies, storytelling, and exposure to a wide range of texts, supporting a lifelong engagement with reading.
Impact
Pupils develop strong decoding, fluency, and comprehension skills while cultivating a genuine love of reading. They read widely and confidently, engage critically with texts, and enjoy discovering new stories, ideas, and information.
Progress is assessed through:
- continuous formative observation during daily reading lessons
- termly NFER reading tests for summative assessment and tracking overall progress
Feedback is provided verbally, in writing, and through in-the-moment guidance to support reading development and enthusiasm.
Monitoring includes termly learning walks, book studies, teacher discussions, and planning reviews. Phonics provision is also monitored through coaching sessions and lesson observations to maintain high standards, ensure consistency, and inspire a lifelong love of reading across the school.