Reading Curriculum Intent Statement 

Dignity, Community, Hope, Wisdom 

‘Journeying together with hope and aspiration’ 

At Gainsborough Parish School, we believe that every child is a reader and aim to instil a love of reading from the earliest stages. Our reading curriculum is designed to equip children with the skills and passion to explore a wide range of texts, recognising reading as a cornerstone for success across all areas of learning.

The foundation of our approach begins with a systematic approach to phonics (The Read Write Inc. program), ensuring children develop strong decoding skills and confidence in early reading. This is followed by our Year 2 Fluency Bridge, a 12-week phase designed to build automaticity, expression, and stamina in reading. As children progress into Key Stage 2, we embrace the James Durran approach to reading, which places purposeful and meaningful reading at the heart of the curriculum, encouraging children to engage deeply with texts.

Key texts have been thoughtfully mapped across the school to inspire and challenge children, offering opportunities to explore diverse authors, classic and contemporary literature, and works that address cultural and social themes. This ensures our pupils gain a rich literary heritage, including exposure to authors like Shakespeare, while building cultural capital and an awareness of the world around them.

High expectations are set to develop pupils' stamina for reading extended texts and to foster their ability to read critically and analytically. By embedding key texts into our English curriculum, we provide opportunities for immersive learning that unlocks imagination, creativity, and confidence, helping children read as writers and write as readers.

Class reading instruction sessions and quality first teaching are at the core of our approach, ensuring emergent and developing readers see value in texts for both pleasure and information. Planned retrieval practices and regular revisiting of text types strengthen pupils' knowledge and skills, enabling them to approach reading and writing tasks with growing independence and fluency.

Ultimately, our reading curriculum seeks to inspire a lifelong love of reading, fostering creativity and ambition while opening doors to exciting opportunities both within and beyond school. Through careful sequencing and purposeful teaching, we aim to give every child the tools to explore new worlds and unlock their full potential.