Reading
Reading: Intent, Implementation and Impact
At Ruswarp, we aim to foster a love for reading through exposing the children to a wide range of genres and themes through the books they study, both within lessons and those they read for pleasure. Children at Ruswarp visit the local town library every three weeks during the autumn term, as well as having access to our own school library at lunchtimes.
Learning to read begins in Nursery where the children use rhymes and songs to experience and develop their recognition of different sounds. The children also listen to a variety of books and discuss these with an adult.
EYFS and KS1 use Little Wandle to enable them to become fluent readers and this is further built on in LKS2 where children develop their fluency skills to become more independent readers.
KS2 children also have separate reading comprehension lessons to develop their understanding of the texts that they are reading. Please see futher detail below:
KS1 Reading: Progression of Comprehension Skills
KS2 Reading: Progression of Comprehension Skills
Texts for Reading Comprehension
The Class Novel
KS2 have a four year programme for texts which is frequently reviewed and updated to adapt to the children's needs and interests and to allow for the discovery of new texts. We are currently on Cycle B, which can be seen on the document link below. Nursery, EYFS and KS1 have opportunities to vote for class stories that they share as well as using Talk Through Stories to help develop their vocabulary and have reading with prosody modelled to them.
2026 National Year of Reading
This academic year Ruswarp is taking part in a project called the 2026 Year of Reading. The Year of Reading is a collaborative reading project promoted by the DfE and the National Literacy Trust, encouraging all children to become confident, considered readers who read for pleasure.
At Ruswarp, reading is already at the heart of our curriculum but we would like to raise the profile of reading for pleasure and enhance the reading provision for all in our school community. We know that those in the lowest 20% can become reluctant readers, whether this be through low self-esteem, boredom, or an inability to compete with peers so we want to ensure that we offer a reading curriculum that supports these and all pupils to become confident and fluent readers.
In 2026, we are increasing opportunities to engage with author/reading events and reading competitions, we are further developing our school library and reading corners with book recommendations and new displays, we are providing extra phonics support and having a real focus on fluency in reading. Through these actions, we hope to further develop our pupils' reading skills and the reading for pleasure culture in order for all children to shine, academically, socially, and personally.