Intent
At St Thomas More, we aim to develop a genuine lifelong love of reading in every child. We believe that reading is the key to unlocking learning across the curriculum and plays a vital role in children’s academic, social and emotional development.
We intend for our pupils to become fluent, confident and enthusiastic readers who read both for pleasure and for purpose. Through exposure to a wide range of high-quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays, children develop their understanding of the world, broaden their vocabulary and learn to think critically about what they read.
Our reading curriculum is designed to ensure that pupils can comprehend, discuss and evaluate texts effectively. Children are encouraged to make connections between their reading and wider learning, ask thoughtful questions, justify their ideas using evidence and engage with increasingly complex texts as they progress through school.
Implementation
Reading for Pleasure
We place reading at the heart of school life and are committed to fostering positive reading habits and a love of books.
In EYFS, children:
- listen to and enjoy a wide range of stories, rhymes and poems
- develop early language and communication skills through shared reading experiences
- begin to retell stories and talk about characters, settings and events
- develop positive attitudes towards books and storytelling
In KS1 and KS2, we promote Reading for Pleasure through a range of engaging opportunities:
- Children are read to daily through carefully selected, high-quality texts.
- Reading for Pleasure texts are planned to ensure exposure to a broad range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
- Reading achievements are celebrated regularly, including our Reader of the Week recognition.
- Weekly Book Club sessions encourage discussion, reflection and the sharing of recommendations, helping children become active and independent readers.
Reading Comprehension
Through our reading curriculum, children experience a wide variety of authors, genres, characters, settings and themes. In line with the National Curriculum, pupils are taught to:
- Develop positive attitudes towards reading through engagement with a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays and non-fiction texts.
- Understand and discuss texts by identifying key information, summarising ideas and exploring deeper meanings.
- Use evidence to support understanding through retrieval, inference, explanation and evaluation.
Our reading lessons are delivered through a structured and progressive approach. Children participate in three 30-minute comprehension lessons each week, alongside daily teacher reads and weekly Book Club sessions.
Our Three-Lesson Reading Sequence
Lesson 1: Understanding the Text
- Introduction and discussion of key vocabulary.
- Exploration of important contextual knowledge.
- Teacher modelling through high-quality reading aloud.
- Identification and summarisation of key information within the text.
Lesson 2: Exploring Deeper Meaning
- Revisiting vocabulary and contextual understanding.
- Shared reading to develop fluency, intonation and prosody.
- Exploration of character, setting, atmosphere, language and authorial choices.
- Development of inference skills and understanding of author intent.
Lesson 3: Independent Application
- Recap of vocabulary and contextual knowledge.
- Independent reading of the text.
- Answering a range of comprehension questions.
- Applying retrieval, inference and evidence-based reasoning skills independently.
Independent Reading
- Children take home reading books that are carefully matched to their reading ability, supporting fluency, accuracy and confidence.
- Reading levels are regularly assessed to ensure appropriate challenge and progression.
- Once pupils demonstrate secure reading and comprehension beyond the school’s reading scheme, they become Free Readers and can independently select books from the wide range available in class libraries.
- All children have regular access to the school library, encouraging choice, independence and enjoyment of reading.
Skills and Vocabulary Progression
- Vocabulary is taught explicitly and revisited regularly to deepen understanding and support comprehension.
- Children encounter increasingly challenging texts and language as they move through the school.
- Reading skills are developed progressively, ensuring pupils build confidence in fluency, retrieval, summarising, inference, evaluation and critical thinking.
- Regular opportunities for discussion enable children to articulate ideas clearly and justify opinions using evidence from texts.
- Key vocabulary and reading strategies are revisited frequently so that children can confidently discuss and explain their understanding.
Impact
As a result of our reading curriculum, pupils become fluent, confident and thoughtful readers who enjoy reading and understand its value. They are able to discuss a wide range of texts, draw meaning from what they read and use evidence to support their ideas.
Through regular exposure to high-quality literature and structured comprehension teaching, children develop strong vocabulary knowledge, secure comprehension skills and a deeper understanding of language and authorial intent. They become increasingly independent readers who can summarise, infer, evaluate and respond critically to texts.
Our pupils read widely, make informed reading choices and demonstrate curiosity about the world around them. They take pride in their reading achievements and recognise reading as a tool for learning, enjoyment and personal growth.
Most importantly, children leave St Thomas More with a genuine love of reading that supports their success throughout their education and beyond.
Supporting reading at home:
Research has shown that reading for pleasure can make a huge difference to children – not only academically (even in subjects like maths) but also socially and emotionally. Just ten minutes shared reading a day can help your child grow into a happy, confident learner.
Even if your child is a confident, independent reader, it is still very beneficial for your child to also hear you reading aloud to them so please do share books together even as they get older.
In addition to hearing your child read aloud, here are some suggested questions you could ask to support their understanding:
“What has just happened?”
“Why do you think the character did that?”
“How do you think the character is feeling? Why do you think that?”
“What do you think is going to happen next?”
“What does this word mean?”/ “Can you find a word on the page that means….?”
“Do you like this book? Why/Why not?”
“What would you have done in this situation?”
Curriculum Overview
You can find details of what Reading in KS2 looks like across an academic year:
