Reading is the key that unlocks learning across the curriculum and nurtures a lifelong love of books and stories. At Bawnmore, we believe every child deserves to become a fluent, confident reader who reads with enjoyment, understanding, and independence. From the very start, children are immersed in a language-rich environment where reading is celebrated every day.

Curriculum

Our reading curriculum is ambitious, inclusive, and carefully sequenced from Early Years to Year 2. A golden thread runs through everything we do—strong relationships, emotional wellbeing, and a sense of belonging—because we know these are the foundations for successful reading.

We aim for children to:

• Become fluent, accurate readers who enjoy books
• Read for both pleasure and purpose
• Apply reading skills confidently across the whole curriculum

High-quality texts are at the heart of our approach, chosen to inspire, challenge, and reflect the diversity of the world around them. Fiction, non-fiction, and poetry are woven through our thematic curriculum to foster curiosity and comprehension.

Teaching

Teaching in reading is systematic, engaging, and rooted in best practice. Our approach includes:

• Daily phonics using Floppy’s Phonics to build strong foundations in decoding and spelling
• Book Talk sessions (Jane Considine’s Hooked on Books) to develop vocabulary, comprehension, prediction, and reasoning
• Daily story time to nurture a love of stories and language
• Guided and shared reading to model fluency and comprehension strategies
• Carefully matched decodable books (90% decodable) for home and school reading
• A rich diet of poetry, rhymes, and song to support early language development
• Inviting book corners in every classroom to promote choice and independence
• Reading embedded across all subjects, ensuring skills are applied in meaningful contexts

Special events—author visits, themed days, and parent reading sessions—celebrate reading as a valued part of school life.

Achievement

By the end of Year 2, our children:

• Are fluent, accurate, and confident readers
• Apply a range of strategies to understand and enjoy texts
• Demonstrate strong comprehension skills and can discuss what they read
• Read for pleasure, choosing books independently and confidently
• Use reading to support learning across the wider curriculum

SEND and Inclusion

We ensure all children succeed in reading through:

• Early identification and targeted interventions
• Pre-teaching of key vocabulary and texts
• Scaffolded tasks and adapted resources
• 1:1 and small-group support for phonics, decoding, and comprehension

Further details of our reading curriculum and how you can support your child can be found in our additional documents below.