Reading

Curriculum Intent

The Reading curriculum is designed to develop accurate, fluent, confident and enthusiastic readers who can access the full curriculum and develop a lifelong love of reading.

At Gordon Children’s Academy, we believe that reading is fundamental to children's success across all areas of learning. Through our reading curriculum, pupils develop vocabulary, knowledge, imagination and independence whilst building the skills required to become thoughtful and critical readers. Reading provision is carefully planned to ensure that every child, regardless of starting point, receives the support and challenge needed to make strong progress.

We recognise that learning to decode words is only the first stage of becoming a successful reader. Once pupils have secured phonics knowledge through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, they continue to develop reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and reading stamina through structured reading provision. Our aim is to ensure that all pupils leave primary school as confident readers who can read with accuracy, understanding and enjoyment.

Curriculum Journey

Our reading curriculum is carefully sequenced to support pupils as they progress from early reading towards becoming independent and critical readers.

Key Stage 2

Pupils who enter Key Stage 2 having successfully completed the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme move into structured reading fluency groups. These groups focus on developing automatic word recognition, reading rate, expression, phrasing, confidence and comprehension through regular guided practice with appropriately matched texts. Assessment is ongoing, ensuring pupils are continually challenged at the correct level and can move between groups as their reading develops.

For pupils who require additional support with decoding, targeted phonics teaching and intervention continue through Little Wandle provision, including Rapid Catch-up where appropriate. This ensures that pupils receive teaching that matches their individual needs and enables them to build secure foundations for future reading success.

As pupils become more fluent readers, they progress through the Collins Big Cat for Little Wandle Fluency programme. Carefully structured texts increase in complexity, word count and expected reading rate, helping pupils build confidence, stamina and independence as readers. 

Once pupils have completed the highest fluency levels and are assessed as ready, they become free readers. At this stage, reading instruction continues to focus on deeper comprehension skills, including vocabulary development, retrieval, inference, prediction and summarising. Pupils learn to analyse authorial choices, understand text structures, compare texts and develop informed personal responses to what they read. As they move through the school, they encounter an increasingly broad range of genres, authors and viewpoints, allowing them to develop cultural awareness, critical thinking and a genuine enjoyment of reading.