A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.

At Woodside Academy, our English teaching programme follows the structure of the National Curriculum for each year group. It is our intention that all children are able to read fluently and with confidence by the time they finish their primary education. We are committed to exposing all pupils to a range of rich reading materials.

We believe that learning the skills of reading does not just happen, reading must be taught throughout all aspects of the school, and we believe that this is key to academic success.

Cultural Capital 

One way in which we promote cultural capital via reading is by providing and exposing our children to a range of texts, from different genres, that have been written by authors from a wide range of backgrounds. 

Early Reading in EYFS and Key Stage One                                 

We understand the importance of teaching early reading skills effectively to ensure that our children grow into confident, fluent readers who enjoy a wide range of different texts. We teach reading in a systematic and structured way, building up children’s phonic knowledge and skills using the Little Wandle Scheme. The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout the foundation stage and Key Stage

Phonics is taught daily to all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 until they complete the Little Wandle scheme. 

In order for a child to enjoy reading, they need to be able to access a range of texts at their level. All individual books in Reception and Key Stage 1 match the pupil’s phonic knowledge, ensuring that all words can be decoded. 

This year we have introduced mini libraries so that children in Early Years and Key Stage One can easily access stories to develop a love of reading. 

Key Stage Two

In Key Stage 2, reading skills lessons are taught daily and are delivered to the whole class. During these sessions children read a variety of high quality extracts and texts. They have weekly access to a larger library, which has a range of high quality texts.

Developing a Love of Reading

Click on the link below to go to our Phonics page.