Every child a reader

At North Mead, reading is one of the most important things we teach.

We want every child to become an accurate, fluent, confident reader who can understand increasingly complex texts, talk about what they have read and use reading to learn across the curriculum.

Our approach develops reading from the earliest stages in Nursery and Reception through to increasingly independent, thoughtful reading in Year 6.

Reading is not treated as a single lesson or isolated subject.

It sits at the heart of English and supports success across the whole curriculum.

 

Our reading journey

Children develop as readers through a carefully sequenced journey:

• Phonics

Children learn the sounds and letter patterns they need to decode words accurately.

• Fluency

Children develop automaticity, pace, phrasing and expression so that reading becomes increasingly effortless.

• Comprehension

Children learn to understand, retrieve, infer, explain, predict, summarise and discuss what they read.

• Independence

Children increasingly select, sustain and manage their own reading.

Reading culture

Children encounter rich texts, authors, genres and ideas and develop the confidence and curiosity to read widely.

 

Early reading and phonics

Early reading begins with communication, language, stories, songs, rhyme and listening.

Children develop:

• phonological awareness
• vocabulary
• oral language
• listening
• story knowledge
• print awareness
• early decoding

We use Read Write Inc. Phonics as our systematic approach to teaching early reading.

Children are taught to:

• recognise sounds quickly
• blend sounds to read words
• read increasingly complex words
• develop accuracy
• build fluency
• read matched texts
• apply phonics to writing

Children practise reading books that are closely matched to the phonics knowledge they have been taught.

Read Write Inc.

Read Write Inc. provides a clear and systematic route through early phonics.

Teaching includes:

• sound recognition
• oral blending
• word reading
• decoding
• repeated reading
• sentence reading
• comprehension
• spelling
• writing linked to phonics

Children are assessed regularly so that teaching is matched as closely as possible to what they need next.

Where pupils need additional practice, support is targeted so that gaps are addressed quickly.

 

Fluency

Fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension.

A child who has to work hard to read individual words has less attention available for understanding the text.

Our fluency teaching therefore focuses on:

• accuracy
• automaticity
• pace
• expression
• phrasing
• prosody
• confidence when reading aloud

We use Fast Fluency to give children focused, repeated practice.

Children reread appropriate texts so that word recognition becomes more automatic and attention can increasingly shift towards meaning.

 

Comprehension

Reading well means more than recognising words.

Children are explicitly taught how to understand and think about texts.

In Key Stage 2, VIPERS provides a shared language for comprehension.

• Vocabulary

Understanding words and phrases.

• Inference

Using clues in the text to work out meaning that is not stated directly.

• Prediction

Using evidence to anticipate what may happen next.

• Explanation

Explaining ideas, language, structure and the effect of an author’s choices.

• Retrieval

Finding and selecting information from the text.

• Summarising and Sequencing

Identifying the most important information and organising events or ideas.

VIPERS gives teachers and pupils a consistent way to talk about reading while ensuring children encounter a wide range of question types and reading behaviours.

 

What children learn

Phase	What children learn
EYFS	Stories, songs, rhyme, vocabulary, listening, phonological awareness, early phonics, blending, early book knowledge and enjoyment of texts.
KS1	Secure phonics, accurate word reading, increasing fluency, literal comprehension, simple inference, vocabulary, sequencing and discussion.
Lower KS2	Increasingly fluent reading, wider vocabulary, retrieval, inference, prediction, explanation, summarising and discussion of increasingly complex texts.
Upper KS2	Fluent and expressive reading, interpretation, comparison, evaluation, evidence-based inference, sophisticated vocabulary, summarising and understanding complex fiction and non-fiction.

 

Reading in Key Stage 2

As children move through Key Stage 2, reading instruction increasingly focuses on:

• fluency
• vocabulary
• comprehension
• inference
• text structure
• authorial choices
• comparison
• summarising
• discussion
• reading stamina

Children encounter progressively more demanding texts and are expected to justify ideas using evidence.

Reading aloud remains important, but pupils increasingly develop the stamina and independence needed to read silently for sustained periods.

 

Developing a reading culture

At North Mead, we deliberately develop a reading culture.

Children encounter:

• class novels
• picture books
• poetry
• non-fiction
• diverse authors
• traditional stories
• contemporary texts
• curriculum-linked texts
• independent reading books

We want children to talk about books, recommend texts, encounter authors they may not otherwise discover and see reading as something that belongs to them.

The aim is not only: “Can this child read?” but also: “Does this child see themselves as a reader?”

Independent reading

Independent reading gives children the opportunity to practise reading with increasing stamina and autonomy.

We use Accelerated Reader to support independent reading in Key Stage 2.

It helps us monitor:

• reading level
• engagement
• book choice
• comprehension
• progress over time

Children are encouraged to choose books that are appropriately challenging while also developing personal interests and preferences.

Accelerated Reader supports the wider reading curriculum; it does not replace direct teaching of reading.

NGRT

We use the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) in Key Stage 2 as part of our reading assessment.

NGRT provides standardised information about reading performance and helps us identify:

• strengths
• gaps
• pupils who may need additional support
• patterns across groups
• progress over time

Assessment information is considered alongside teacher knowledge, fluency, classroom reading and pupil performance.

No single score determines a child’s reading provision.

Reading across the curriculum

Reading is not confined to English.

Children read in:

• Science
• History
• Geography
• RE
• Computing
• Design Technology
• Art
• PSHCE
• Sustainability
• Mathematics

Subject-specific reading helps children develop:

• background knowledge
• vocabulary
• understanding of disciplinary language
• confidence with non-fiction
• the ability to learn independently

Teachers support pupils to read subject-specific texts successfully rather than assuming that general reading ability will automatically transfer.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is central to successful reading.

Children need to understand the words they encounter if they are to make sense of increasingly complex texts.

We teach vocabulary deliberately through:

• explicit explanation
• context
• morphology
• discussion
• repetition
• retrieval
• reading across subjects

Particular attention is given to pupils with EAL and pupils whose vocabulary development may need additional support.

Reading and EAL

North Mead has many pupils who are learning English as an additional language.

For these pupils, reading development may depend on strengthening:

• oral language
• vocabulary
• background knowledge
• sentence understanding
• idiom
• cultural references
• confidence in discussion

We maintain high expectations while ensuring children receive the language support, they need to access texts successfully.

Reading and SEND

Children with SEND should access ambitious reading teaching.

Support may include:

• additional phonics
• repeated reading
• shorter text sections
• visual support
• vocabulary pre-teaching
• alternative communication
• larger print
• additional processing time
• adult modelling
• assistive technology where appropriate

The aim is always to remove barriers while maintaining ambition.

Supporting children who fall behind

We do not wait for reading difficulties to become entrenched.

Where a child is not keeping up, we ask: What is the barrier?

This may relate to:

• phonics
• decoding
• fluency
• vocabulary
• comprehension
• attendance
• communication
• SEND
• confidence

Support is then matched to need.

This may include:

• additional RWI
• targeted phonics
• repeated reading
• Fast Fluency
• vocabulary support
• small-group reading
• additional adult practice
• personalised intervention

Support is reviewed regularly so that we know whether it is working.

Reading aloud

Reading aloud remains important throughout primary school.

It allows teachers to:

• model fluency
• expose children to ambitious texts
• introduce vocabulary
• build background knowledge
• develop comprehension
• create shared reading experiences

Children also benefit from opportunities to read aloud themselves and develop confidence, phrasing and expression.

Assessment

Assessment in reading is purposeful and proportionate.

Depending on age and stage, this includes:

• Read Write Inc. assessments
• fluency checks
• VIPERS-based comprehension
• Accelerated Reader Star
• NGRT
• teacher assessment
• pupil discussion
• statutory assessment

Assessment helps us answer:

• What can this child read?
• How fluently can they read it?
• What do they understand?
• What is getting in the way?
• What should we teach next?

Reading outcomes

Reading is a significant strength at North Mead.

In 2026:

• 83% of Year 1 pupils met the expected standard in Phonics
• 89% of Year 2 pupils met the expected Phonics standard
• 92% of Year 6 pupils achieved the expected standard in Reading
• 54% achieved the higher standard
• 100% of Year 6 pupils had a reading age of 9 or above using the school’s assessment measure The reading-age figure is a school assessment measure (NGRT) and is separate from statutory Key Stage 2 assessment.

How we know reading is improving

We look beyond individual test scores.

We consider:

• phonics outcomes
• fluency
• comprehension
• reading ages
• NGRT
• Accelerated Reader
• book choice
• pupil voice
• classroom reading
• reading across subjects
• progress for vulnerable groups

Subject leadership also uses:

• learning visits
• work scrutiny
• pupil discussion
• teacher voice
• assessment analysis

The key question is: Are children becoming more accurate, fluent, thoughtful and independent readers?

What success looks like

By the time children leave North Mead, we want them to:

• decode accurately
• read fluently
• understand increasingly complex texts
• use ambitious vocabulary
• retrieve information efficiently
• infer using evidence
• explain and justify ideas
• summarise accurately
• compare texts
• discuss reading confidently
• read independently
• use reading to learn across the curriculum

Most importantly, we want every child to leave North Mead seeing reading as something that gives them access to knowledge, opportunity and the wider world.

Our commitment

Reading opens the curriculum.

It opens stories, ideas, information, imagination and future opportunity.

That is why our ambition is simple: Every child a reader.

Every Child. Every Lesson. Every Day.

 

Related North Mead Pages

• English
• Our Curriculum