At Sherford Vale, we endeavour to create a love for reading through a curriculum based upon a language-rich experience, combining opportunities to speak, listen, read and write for a variety of purposes, audiences and forms. Through their learning journey, children develop their skills through a range of high-quality, engaging texts, that provide rich models of language to create a culture where children love reading and discussing books, actively engage with it at every opportunity and where their imagination and understanding of the world is developed as a result. Through our intent, our aims are:

• Every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities.
• All pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations.
• Children are able to develop vocabulary, language comprehension, and a love of reading through exposure and experience with a range of fiction and non-fiction.
• Children are familiar with, and enjoy listening to, a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction.
• The Phonics Programme (Read Write Inc.) matches or exceeds the expectations of the national curriculum and the Early Learning Goals.
• All staff have clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress, from EYFS to Year 6 as appropriate. Pupils are provided with phonics support in KS2 where required. 
• The sequence of reading books shows cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to the RWI programme. Children have access to phonetically decodable books through Read Write Inc. Accelerated Reader is used in KS2 and books match the age and stage of individual readers.
• Teachers will give pupils sufficient practice in reading and re-reading books (repeated reading) that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both in school and at home.
• Reading, including the teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics, is taught from the beginning of Early Years.
• Ongoing assessment of pupils’ phonics progress is sufficiently frequent and detailed to identify any pupil who is falling behind the programme’s pace. If they do fall behind, targeted support is given.
• All staff have regular training in the teaching of phonics and reading to ensure confidence and competence.
• Children are exposed to vocabulary in the wider curriculum to enhance knowledge and secure a rich-language culture.
• Children are regularly read to, and with, to expose children to a rich reading experience with links made to the wider curriculum, culture and diversity.
• Children gain a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles and that this is considered through classroom reading corners, library areas and access to high quality texts including through Accelerated Reader and the reading spine.
• Children build preferences in reading and choose to read a variety of texts.
• Children recognise individual authors and styles of reading that they enjoy.
• Children engage in book discussion in a range of contexts, alongside both adults and peers, linking to reading skills that they are familiar with.

Implementation

• Class reading corners are purposeful with links made to curriculum areas and reading for pleasure.
• High-quality whole-class stories are shared daily in line with the school-wide reading spine.
• Well-maintained, inviting libraries across the school, maintained by staff and pupils.
• Class visits to the local library / assemblies from the library service.
• Parental engagement and involvement – reading at home.
• Learning environments demonstrate the importance of reading to us as a school and are used to encourage children to read.
• Children are taught in line with the RWI Phonics program and are allocated matched texts in line with current learning.
• Where progress is not at expected, children are regularly read with in school. 
• Links with the library service ensure that books are regularly replenished and introduced.

Impact
As a result, we have a community of enthusiastic readers who enjoy showcasing their ever-developing skills. They are confident to take risks in their reading and love to discuss and share their ideas through the use of Oracy. Reading at home is developing as children love the books that they are reading and enjoy sharing these beyond school, and demonstrate an understanding through the use of book talk and quizzes (AR). A rich language culture is evident across the school. Children develop a love for reading across a range of subject areas and make links to culture and diversity through the texts that they read.