Our Reading lead is Mrs L Bunney.

The aims of our English curriculum taken from the National Curriculum

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate

Reading Intent

At Russell, we value reading as a key life skill, and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers. Reading begins at the earliest stage when children enjoy looking at books and hearing stories being read to them.  At Russell, we want to give all chidren the best start with their reading journey and ensure that they develop a love of reading. It is our aim to ensure that pupils become fluent readers as early as possible. We recognise how crucial this is for pupils to be able to access all areas of the curriculum.

At the heart of our English curriculum are high quality, vocabulary enriched texts. We encourage pupils to read a wide range of texts and expose them to a variety both fiction and non-fiction in order to support them in gaining a life-long enjoyment of reading. In order to develop reading skills further we also endeavour to teach from and expose pupils to more challenging texts which are above their age range such as the use of ‘War Horse’ in year 4, ‘Iron Man’ in year 3 and ‘Wind in the Willows’ in year 2. These challenging texts not only capture the pupils’ interests and imagination but also offer a wealth of high-quality vocabulary to be explored, explained and ultimately used within their writing.

The range of texts shared and studied at Russell Lower supports pupils in developing their understanding of themselves and the world in which they live as well as gaining knowledge across the curriculum and developing their comprehension skills through the use of VIPERS lessons. 

We intend for the children to become enthusiastic and motivated readers and to develop their confidence in reading a wide variety of genres and text types. We aim to encourage a love of literature, the enjoyment of reading for pleasure and to use reading to provoke thought within children. We want the children of Russell Lower to leave us as confident, fluent readers who begin their time with us by ‘learning to read’ and leave us ‘reading to learn!’ Our intent is that no child should leave us without being able to read.

Reading implementation

At Russell Lower School reading is at the heart of everything we do across the curriculum and an integral part of all our lessons. We begin by prioritising early reading in EYFS and Year One. From September 2024 we have been using the validated phonics scheme Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) in Foundation Stage. Please see here for more information - Foundation Stage phonics. With a strong start in Foundation Stage, all children are given the required skills to read well, quickly. From September 2025 this scheme will also be used across Year 1. See our phonics page for more information about this. Progression in phonics is closely monitored and the use of phonetically decodable books ensures the application and consolidation necessary for effective decoding.

As the children progress through KS1 they move on to the Accelerated Reader programme. Children choose reading books according to the correct reading range and are motivated to read by growing electronic sunflowers as they progress. This enables the children to improve their reading ability as well as increase their enjoyment of it. Th system allows us to monitor and assess pupil’s reading and ensure children are reading regularly, selecting ability appropriate books to provide enough challenge and make progress, set targets and access their reading to address misconceptions and gaps in learning. We are able to quickly identify children who are not making the expected progress. From this, interventions are quickly put in place to ensure that these children can catch up. For children in years 2, 3 and 4 who are identified as not making reading at the expected level we have intervention groups which include ‘Switched On Reading’, additional daily phonics and daily reading practise to ensure gaps are narrowed and good progress achieved. 

Reading is a priority at Russell Lower School and across the school we have a minimum designated time of fifteen minutes a day given to reading.  This includes reading independently, reading with a staff member and answering comprehension style questions eith verbally or through the Accellerated Reader quizzes.  Children are expected to be listened to read once a week by a staff member, this ensures the class teacher hears every child read at least fortnightly. We also encourage regular reading at home at least four times a week. This is to help reinforce their word recognition; improve their fluency and confidence; and share their love of reading with siblings and parents/carers. We reward pupils who read regualry at home with ‘reading reward time’. 

At Russell Lower School we teach reading comprehension skills through English lessons as well as making links across all subject areas of the curriculum.  We teach lessons that focus on developing pupils’ level of understanding of any text read through discussion, written and oral tasks; and the exploration of new vocabulary.  Pupils in all year groups are familiar with the VIPERS acronym of vocabulary, inference, prediction, explain, retrieve and sequence/summarise.  The VIPERS acronym and explanation of what each strand stands for is on display in all classrooms and across the curriculum in lynx lesson files. VIPERS lessons enable the children to access higher level texts which they would not necessarily be able to read independently such as ‘War Horse’ in Year 4 and ‘Wind in the Willows’ in Year 2.

Reading for pleasure is modelled by teachers daily. We have an excellent selection of familiar books to read with the children and also longer chapter books and non-fiction texts. We encourage the children to help choose these books allowing them to delve deeply into a quality text and explore new books and authors. Reading is celebrated via displays in classrooms and around the school.  Each class has a reading corner with bookshelves full of quality fiction and non-fiction texts, dictionaries, thesauruses and atlases.

Through our reading curriculum we equip our children with the knowledge and cultural capital to succeed in life.  Teachers model and share a variety of quality texts across the curriculum exposing them to things which they may not have had the opportunities to learn about.  For example, in EYFS children are encouraged to find books on their favourite topics. Year 2 teach the art of Claude Monet through a variety of texts including ‘Katy and The Waterlily Pond’ by James Mayhew. In Year 4 children are introduced to the work of William Shakespeare through ‘Julius Caesar’. We have author visits from the likes of Peter Laws and Keith Hatton, promoting the purpose of writing creatively and the doors it can open in later life. We have developed close ties with our local library and actively promote its use and value.  The EYFS children visit and the local librarian visits the school welcoming the children to join.  Recently the children at Russell Lower school have been successful in the National Library Summer reading challenge.

We also have our own school library which has a wide range of quality non-fiction and fiction books.  We teach the children that the library is a special place where we can all participate in the pleasure of choosing a book of our choice, sitting/lying down quietly enjoying the simple pleasure of listening to an adult read them a story in a quiet environment. All classes are timetabled once a week for a library session (this can be used in a variety of ways e.g story telling) and all children take home a library book of their choice (this is not linked to their reading level).

At Russell we use ‘World Book Day’ as an opportunity to excite the children about reading! The children are invited to dress up as their favourite book character or a school theme e.g. characters from books by the author Julia Donaldson. The learning is then planned around the theme or the children’s choice of books. The children regularly visit our school library which is full of exciting texts within a wide range of fiction and non- fiction. The children have the opportunity to take a book home each week to share with their family. In class, the children are read to by an adult daily, sharing either a book from our familiar book boxes or a chapter book which really gets the children excited about what might happen next and builds a wider range of rich vocabulary.

We are very conscious of the importance of children reading with their adults at home and with this in mind we offer parents the opportunities to attend a reading workshop where we reiterate the importance of a reading culture at home and the joy and pleasure it can bring to both child and adult when reading together.   The children all have a reading diary which parents are encouraged to comment in. Our reading diaries also evidence children’s progress, misconceptions and next step targets.

Reading impact

As we believe that reading is the key to all learning, ‘we read to learn’, the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the result of statutory assessments.  Children have the opportunity and skills to enter the wide and varied magical worlds that reading opens up to them.  As they develop their own interest in books, a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles is enhanced. Using the accelerated reading programme and also by looking at the children’s reading records we can see that they are choosing a variety of books both fiction and non-fiction and chapter and fiction books.  The children also choose books that they enjoy from a wide selection in the school library. 

Through the teaching of systematic phonics and reading enquiry, our children become fluent and confident readers who can apply their knowledge and experiences across the curriculum.  Children have opportunities to apply their reading skills in every lesson and often choose books that are subject related to read for pleasure.

Our parents and carers have a good understanding of how they can support reading at home and contribute regularly to home-school records. Through resources such as stem viper questions bookmarks parents are aware of the types of questions that will help their children have a deeper understanding of the books they read.  Parents support school by record their observations and their chidren's answers/comments in their reading diary.  The children get a reward for reading with their adults at home.  A recent reading diary scrutiny showed the impact of this, with most of the children reading regularly at home, with parents giving meaningful comments and feedback.  Parents have also attended reading workshops and celebrated World Book Day, and embrace our passion for books and the written word.

In order to measure the impact of our reading we use a range of formative and summative assessment in all lessons such as:

• Questioning
• Pupil, parent, staff voice/questionnaires
• Observations/learning walks/drop ins
• Analysis of our assessment tool linked to milestone documents/National Curriculum for each year
• Use of the accelerated reader system and reading diaries

Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our monitoring of teaching and learning cycle. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in reading as well as indicating areas for development.

Further to this there are regular moderation sessions with other schools and the local Middle School as well as staff development meetings dedicated to both training and also moderation in order to continually improve practice.

Academic outcomes and impact.

July 2025

The average ARE+ for all year groups in 91%. Reading is prioritised at Russell and our outstanding results show how effective we are.

Children at Russell Lower School are passionate about their reading and it is celebrated in school. Most importantly by the time our children leave us at the end of year 4 they have developed a love for a wide variety of books and a passion for the written word.

 Following a local authority ‘deep dive’ into reading the following feedback was given.

“Pupils show a love of reading; they give it high marks out of ten for enjoyment and can indicate personal preferences for reading as well as an understanding for the lifelong usefulness of reading for purpose and pleasure, at work and at home Pupils who read to us show a wide range for interests and knowledge from their reading”

In November 2022 we also had a successful Ofsted where we were deemed good. The following comments were made.

Leaders and staff prioritise reading. Pupils enjoy reading and talk enthusiastically about books they like. Children start to learn to read from the very start in Reception. Staff have the expertise to teach reading and phonics consistently and well. Adults check regularly on pupils’ phonics knowledge. Adults use these checks to provide extra help to pupils to help them keep up.