Reading & phonics

At Ribbon Academy, we believe that reading opens doors to opportunity, imagination and lifelong learning. Reading sits at the heart of our curriculum and underpins success across all subjects. From Nursery through to Year 6, we strive to develop confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers who not only learn to read successfully but also develop a genuine love of books, stories and knowledge. 

Our carefully designed reading curriculum ensures that all children experience a rich range of high-quality texts, build extensive vocabulary and develop the knowledge and skills needed to understand, discuss and enjoy what they read. Reading is woven throughout our wider curriculum, enabling pupils to learn about the world, broaden their horizons and develop cultural capital.

Our reading curriculum has been carefully designed to dvelop both:

• Word reading – the ability to decode, read accurately and develop fluency.
• Language comprehension – the ability to understand, discuss, interpret and analyse what has been read.

Learning is carefully sequenced from Nursery to Year 6, ensuring children progressively build the knowledge, skills and confidence required to become successful readers. Reading is woven throughout the curriculum and supports learning across all subjects.

We use the highly regarded Sounds-Write programme to teach early reading and phonics. Sounds-Write is a systematic, structured approach that teaches children how the English alphabetic code works, enabling them to become accurate readers and confident spellers. 

Children begin their reading journey through daily phonics lessons where they learn to:

• Recognise the relationship between sounds and spellings.
• Blend sounds together to read words.
• Segment words for spelling and writing.
• Apply their learning with increasing fluency and confidence. 

To ensure children can successfully practise and apply their learning, they receive carefully matched decodable reading books aligned to the Sounds-Write progression. Early reading is further supported through regular reading opportunities in school and at home, alongside targeted support for pupils requiring additional practice

Reading fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension.

At Ribbon Academy, children are supported to develop:

• Accuracy.
• Automaticity.
• Appropriate pace.
• Expression.
• Prosody (reading with meaning and understanding).

Through repeated reading, guided practice and targeted support where required, children become increasingly fluent readers who can focus their attention on understanding and enjoying what they read.

We believe that reading should be enjoyable, inspiring and emorable.

Across the school, children are immersed in carefully selected texts that introduce them to:

• Significant authors.
• Diverse characters and experiences.
• Different cultures and communities.
• Poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
• Classic and contemporary literature.

Every classroom promotes reading for pleasure through high-quality class texts, daily story sharing and opportunities to discuss and recommend books. We want every child to develop a genuine love of reading and see themselves as a reader

As children become increasingly fluent readers, teachig focuses on developing deeper comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Through our Shared Reading approach, pupils learn to:

• Understand ambitious vocabulary.
• Retrieve information efficiently.
• Make informed predictions.
• Infer meaning from texts.
• Explain authors’ choices.
• Summarise and synthesise information.

Teachers carefully model the thinking processes of expert readers, helping children develop confidence in discussing and interpreting increasingly complex texts

Reading does not happen only in English lessons.

hildren regularly use reading to deepen their understanding across the wider curriculum, including history, geography, science, religious education and the arts.

High-quality texts are carefully selected to support curriculum learning, enrich vocabulary and develop background knowledge. Through reading, children make meaningful connections across subjects and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them

We are committed to ensuring every child experiences sccess as a reader.

Additional support is provided for pupils who require further intervention, whilst opportunities for challenge enable confident readers to deepen their understanding and broaden their reading experiences.

Regular assessment enables staff to identify next steps and provide the support needed to ensure all children continue to make strong progress.

We actively promote reading for pleasure across the school through:

• Daily story sharing.
• Class novels and author studies.
• Library visits and book recommendations.
• Reading celebrations and rewards.
• Opportunities to discuss books with peers and adults.
• Carefully selected home reading opportunities. 

We want every child to leave Ribbon Academy as a confident reader who chooses to read, can talk enthusiastically about books and understands the power reading has to transform their future

Our reading journey begins long before children can read independently.

In Nursery and Reception, children are immersed in language-rich environments where stories, rhymes, songs and conversation form a central part of daily learning. Alongside the development of early communication skills, children begin to develop phonological awareness, early reading behaviours and a love of books that provide strong foundations for future success

At Ribbon Academy, we believe every child can become a sucessful reader.

Our curriculum is designed to ensure all pupils can access high-quality reading experiences through adaptive teaching, targeted intervention and carefully selected texts. We strive to remove barriers to reading so that every child can experience success, develop confidence and enjoy the benefits that reading brings.

We want every child to leave Ribbon Academy as a reader who:

• Reads fluently and accurately.
• Understands and enjoys a wide range of texts.
• Possesses a rich and growing vocabulary.
• Uses reading to acquire knowledge and learn independently.
• Thinks critically about what they read.
• Chooses to read for pleasure.
• Is fully prepared for the next stage of education and beyond.