Reading at Sutton Road Primary School  

At Sutton Road Primary School and Nursery, we aim for every child to make progress through fostering a love of reading. 

The teaching of reading throughout school falls primarily into two main areas: word reading and comprehension. Word reading is a key focus particularly in children's early schooling where there are daily phonics sessions as well specific reading fluency sessions. This ensures children are exposed to texts that practice their current phonics teaching and allows them opportunities to apply the skills learnt in discrete phonics sessions as well as developing their reading fluency. Link to Phonics section 

Throughout school, fluency and comprehension is modelled and taught so that children can understand what they have read. Children have the opportunity to apply their understanding in a wide range of ways including, but not limited to, using text to draw settings/characters, answering questions, matching/sequencing activities, specific vocabulary activities and discussion.  

Children are taught through a variety of whole class, small group and 1:1 reading sessions.  

Additional reading enrichment takes place throughout the school, with books shared in Talking Points (PSHRE), texts used to support Curriculum Vehicle sessions, assemblies and whole-class reads. 

 

Reading for Pleasure  

Children can enjoy reading purely for reading’s sake through: 

• A daily shared class read 

• The use high-quality texts  

• Opportunities for reading in class throughout the week  

• Sharing stories written by a range of authors 

• Visiting Mansfield Library for a book exchange or to attend special events 

• Sharing books with reading buddies in class and across Key Stages 

• Reading challenges and competitions 

• Reading with the support of our reading volunteers  

• A timetabled slot in our new school library (where classes also ‘Buddy Read’) 

 

 

 

 

Range of Texts 

Children are encouraged to explore a range of genres, authors, structures and complexity of texts by: 

• Using a range of age-appropriate texts – poetry, classic texts, traditional tales, non-fiction and fiction 

• Being questioned in a way that will challenge the children and include a range of question types to suit the text 

 

Active Engagement 

At times, children will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of texts using drama, role play, models and film by: 

• Role playing stories that are familiar to them 

• Performing and reading aloud texts as well as their own compositions 

• Using drama techniques, such as, but not limited to, conscience alley and freeze frames, to explore character 

• Using a range of reading and inference skills to explore film clips  

 

Positive Role Models 

• Adults engage in reading themselves and talk about the books they have read. 

• Author visits to the school to inspire and encourage reading and writing.