Intent
At Rayleigh Primary School, reading is a top priority and a key driver for our entire curriculum.  In developing the skill of reading, children gain access to and derive pleasure from rich and varied sources of literature and a wide variety of facts and figures contained within non-fiction. The ability to read and interpret written language is a vital skill for accessing all other areas of the curriculum and is an essential life-long skill. 

We strongly believe that key to improving outcomes in all subjects is fostering a love of reading. There is substantial evidence to show a positive correlation between reading ability and future successes, contributing strongly to attainment, mental health, economic wellbeing and relationships. 

Principally, we want our children to enjoy reading. We aim to develop, through our teaching of reading, the following attitudes: curiosity and interest, pleasure, critical appraisal, independence, confidence, perseverance, respect for other views, individuals and cultures. 

It is our intention that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils will be able to read fluently and with confidence in any subject in readiness for their forthcoming secondary education.

Implementation
Our reading curriculum and the varied texts explored and shared in each year group incites a love of reading in our children as they engage with a stimulating range of texts from a variety of genres in both fiction and non-fiction.

In our whole class reading lessons, children develop their cultural capital and background knowledge through exposure to a range of texts and discussion around them. Vocabulary is explicitly taught to ensure secure understanding as the text is read, and pupils are encouraged to use new vocabulary in written and verbal responses. Fluency and comprehension skills are modelled by teaching staff and shared activities provide children with opportunities to develop use of these skills before practising them independently. Each weekly whole class reading cycle culminates in opportunities for children to practise and demonstrate a range of the comprehension skills we teach in a mixed-skills quiz.

Through this curriculum, children develop and nurture the essential skills of word reading, fluency and comprehension.

Pupils have frequent opportunities to read and practise their comprehension skills across the wider curriculum as well as in assemblies. Our holistic approach to the teaching of reading focuses on the enjoyment as well as the mechanics of reading. Teachers read to children frequently, and pupils have many opportunities to enjoy books and book-talk together. We run library sessions at lunchtimes and children are encouraged to borrow and enjoy books regularly. Teachers read a range of carefully chosen stories and books to their classes regularly and frequently to ensure that every child is exposed to a variety of engaging stories and that all pupils are represented through texts. 

Impact
When pupils leave us to transition to the next stage of their learning journey, they are fluent, confident and able readers, who can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as use their reading skills to unlock learning and all areas of the curriculum.  They can access and make sense of the world around them, with comprehension skills extending beyond the written word to dramatic comprehension of film and theatre as well as having a developing understanding of real life situations and experiences. We firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our reading curriculum stretches far beyond academia and the results of the statutory assessments.