At Holywell, reading underpins of our whole curriculum. We strive to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. By the end of Key Stage 2, it is our intent that all children will be prepared for secondary school by being able to read easily, fluently and with good understanding. Throughout their time at Holywell, they will have become familiar with a range of authors and appreciated a wide range of good quality texts, which will challenge and expand their understanding of the world they live in. We want to ignite a life-long love of reading. 

To meet this aim, reading is taught through a consistent and systematic approach to phonics, and an explicit approach to comprehension, which focuses on fluency, expression and pace, vocabulary development, retrieval, deduction, inference and evaluation. Teachers read regularly to the class, as we passionately believe that all our children are entitled to be read to regularly and experience the pleasure of a story and its emotional benefits.  We also encourage a home-school partnership in relation to reading, as we understand the important role that parents and carers play in supporting their children to develop as readers.  

Our Literature Spine has been carefully selected to offer a balance between classics and new texts. They show a range of protagonists from a range of demographic groups and cover a number of social issues. 

Please take a look at the details below:

Following children's progression from RWI, our reading schemes for home readers is the Oxford Reading Scheme. We issue books in school with the expectation that they are read 5 times each week.