Reading

At St Francis School, we use a whole-class mastery model for reading to ensure all pupils have access to high-quality texts, promoting equity and fostering a love of literature. The curriculum adopts a structured weekly cycle focusing on key reading skills such as prediction, retrieval, inference, and vocabulary development. Lessons are discussion-based, encouraging collaboration and supporting deeper understanding of texts. Vocabulary is explicitly taught and progression is carefully built into the scheme, enabling children to move from novice to expert readers. This approach ensures pupils develop fluency, comprehension and confidence while engaging meaningfully with a wide range of texts.

We ensure that all pupils embark on a rich reading journey that enables them to become fluent, confident and enthusiastic readers by the end of Year 6. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, and we strive to foster a lifelong love of reading in every child. Our aim is for children to leave St Francis with secure decoding skills, a deep understanding of texts and a wide-ranging vocabulary, enabling them to access the full curriculum and the world beyond school.

We take a systematic and structured approach, aligned with the National Curriculum for English (2014, updated 2021), which states that pupils should develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.

Reading Strategies

Our core reading strategies are derived directly from the National Curriculum and include:

Prediction
Retrieval
Inference
Vocabulary

Children become active readers, capable of analysing and discussing texts critically. They also develop speaking and listening skills, which underpin their ability to express ideas and engage in collaborative learning.

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for pleasure is promoted throughout the school in a variety of meaningful ways:

Story time
Regular access to our well-stocked school library
Peer reading across year groups
Author visits, World Book Day and Scholastic Book Fairs
Whole school reading challenges and themed events

We believe that reading should be a joyful and shared experience. Through carefully chosen books and high-quality discussions, children develop empathy, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of the world around them.

The Importance of Literacy

"Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. From their earliest years, literacy skills help children to develop and communicate."- The National Literacy Trust

At St Francis, we recognise that reading is fundamental to academic success and personal development. We strive to ensure that all children become literate, articulate, and independent thinkers who can navigate the challenges of an ever-changing world.

We encourage reading for enjoyment by: