At Elmstead Wood Primary School, we believe that reading is an essential life skill, and we are committed to enabling our children to become lifelong passionate readers.

At the heart of our intent is our drive to foster a love of reading, enriching children’s learning through carefully designed teaching activities that utilise imaginative stories, thought-provoking and richly inclusive and diverse texts.

Reading is a skill that enables children to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and lays the foundations for success in the future. We recognise the importance of taking a consistent, whole trust approach to the teaching of reading in order to close any gaps and to target the highest possible number of children attaining the expected standard or higher.

In Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1, phonics and reading are taught through Read Write Inc. with small groups of children. Please see our phonics page for more detail.

As children complete the Read Write Inc. phonics programme, they begin whole class reading lessons and will continue this throughout KS2.