Reading is fundamental to education. Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. Through these, they develop communication skills for education and for working with others: in school, in training and at work. Pupils who find it difficult to learn to read are likely to struggle across the curriculum, since English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching.

(The Reading Framework, 2023, DfE)

At Folly View we are determined that ALL of our children will learn to be proficient and fluent readers as quickly as possible and that they develop a love of reading that will stay with them thoughtout their lives. We understand that reading is fundamental to success in all our subjects and all of our learning.

'I realized in a whiplash burst that those children, all mine for one year, might never reach their full potential as human beings if they never learned to read'

(Maryanne Wolf)

'Wide recreational reading expands pupils’ knowledge about the world and about language, as well as their understanding of subject-specific academic and technical vocabulary. Such knowledge eases their access to the whole curriculum. Higher performance in mathematics has also been found. Further, pupils who read regularly report heightened levels of social and emotional wellbeing. For many, reading is a form of relaxation, a place to escape everyday challenges, a source of entertainment. Reading allows readers to adopt new perspectives, develop empathy and become more socially conscious'. (DfE, 2023).

Our Reading Framework outlines how we teach reading and the important principles that underlie it. We read everyday. We teach phonics to our younger pupils and our older pupils recieve extra support if they need it. 

We have carefully selected the books in our book spine, as these are the focus for our 75-90 minute English/Reading lessons that we teach everyday. Much of our work in other subjects relate to the books were are reading and learning about. 

We have recently re-trained in RWI as we know the programme is developed every year and we alter our Reading Spine when we feel the need to do so. We have recently added more books to enhance our pupil's understanding of inclusion, deversity and global awareness and we feel it is vital to replenish our class and school libraries often. 

As Reading is so important to us, we like to share with our families the books and authors we are learning about. Our reading Leader, Lindsay, produces and sends home to our families regular "Reading Newsletters" and you can see a sample of them below. These are first shared in "Reading Assemblies" with the whole school.