Westbrook Lane Primary School
nurtures confident children with caring hearts and curious minds
Reading Curriculum
Intention
A well planned and effectively implemented curriculum begins with a sound and secure knowledge of the National Curriculum purpose and aims for the subject.
National Curriculum Purpose for English
English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating
fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.
National Curriculum Aims
Ensure that all children can:
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read easily, fluently and with good understanding
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develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
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acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
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appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
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write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
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use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
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are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate
At Westbrook, our curriculum follows the statutory guidance and is designed to link with other subjects taught across the curriculum as well as provide the full National Curriculum entitlement to children. ur aim is to have high expectations of all children as readers, including those with SEND and EAL, supporting them to reach their full potential. We strive to provide a text-rich environment with engaging learning opportunities and high-quality texts that reflect diversity in all its forms while developing cultural capital. Through structured synthetic phonics, children will learn to decode unfamiliar words with increasing accuracy and speed, enabling them to read fluently, confidently, and with understanding and expression. Our goal is to nurture confident, competent, and inquisitive readers who can apply their word-reading and comprehension skills across the wider curriculum. Ultimately, we seek to foster a lifelong love of reading and equip children with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for their educational journey and for life.
A feature of our curriculum design is the understanding of the EEF’s Reading Compression House to help understand the importance of both word reading and comprehension (both listening and reading).
The curriculum for reading has :
Disciplinary Knowledge
Disciplinary knowledge in the primary reading curriculum refers to understanding how reading works as a discipline — that is, knowing how readers, writers, and texts interact, and how meaning is constructed, analysed, and interpreted. In simple terms, it goes beyond just learning to read (substantive knowledge such as phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension skills) and moves into thinking like a reader or literary critic.
We aim to develop not only children’s ability to read fluently and with understanding but also their disciplinary knowledge — enabling them to think, question, and respond as readers. We teach children that reading is more than decoding words; it is an active process of making meaning, exploring ideas, and engaging critically with texts. As pupils progress through the school, they build the knowledge and vocabulary needed to discuss texts thoughtfully, comparing themes, analysing characters, and evaluating how language influences meaning. This disciplinary approach equips them to engage with literature as reflective, discerning readers who can apply these skills across the wider curriculum and in life beyond school.
Disciplinary knowledge includes:
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Understanding that authors make deliberate choices in language, structure, and form.
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Considering how readers can interpret texts differently.
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Recognising different text types, genres, and their purposes.
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Exploring how texts reflect or shape cultures, values, and perspectives.
Theoretical Knowledge (Substantive)
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Substantive knowledge in reading is what children need to know — for example, phonics, decoding, fluency, vocabulary and grammar.
These have each been sequenced so that pupils are explicitly taught aspects in small steps, allowing pupils to gradually build their understanding and mastery of knowledge.
Implementation
Quality first curriculum implementation in reading supports children in becoming secure, and fluent in the identified agreed core knowledge and skills in reading. At Westbrook, the journey to becoming passionate towards readingtegins in the Early Years. Our youngest children learn about reading within the EYFS area of learning known as Communication and Language and Literacy. These will be led by the children’s interest and the ‘here and how’ gained from the observation, assessment and planning cycle.
By the time children reach the end of Year Six they will be secure in their reading and comprehension abilities and will be working in line with age‑related national expectations. They will also have a rich and deep knowledge of local, national and international subjects and subject people. Furthermore, they will be able to use their critical thinking skills such as exploring, considering, reflecting and evaluating to have a positive impact on their own learning.
At Westbrook Lane, the teaching of reading is structured, consistent and progressive across all year groups. In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, children follow the Little Wandle systematic synthetic phonics programme. This includes three carefully planned reading sessions each week, ensuring that children develop decoding skills, fluency, prosody and comprehension through a consistent and evidence‑based approach. As children move into Key Stage 2, this familiar structure continues with three reading sessions per week. The focus broadens beyond early decoding to develop the full range of comprehension skills through the VIPERS approach (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising). This ensures continuity of routines while providing age-appropriate challenge and depth. Through this implementation, children experience a coherent reading curriculum that builds progressively from early phonics to sophisticated comprehension, preparing them to become fluent, confident and motivated readers.
Higher attainers in reading are challenged to ensure they become fluent with the core key concepts through additional questioning and prompts (and tasks where appropriate) which helps extend their verbal reasoning skills as well as supporting them to engage in creating, evaluating, and analysing, delving deeper into the subject content.
Impact
Monitoring & Assessing Progress in reading.
Assessing children’s progress is vital in order to establish their acquisition of knowledge and skills and building confidence and fluency in all subjects. At Westbrook learning always starts with the children’s prior knowledge and any misconceptions they may have. Class teachers decide upon the most appropriate age-related way of obtaining the children’s prior knowledge. Misconceptions that arise throughout the unit are identified and addressed appropriately by the teacher.
Teachers track progress through teacher judgement, supplemented by frequent low stakes knowledge recalls (frequently in quiz format), the use of children’s written work to see if they have used the words for formal elements of reading correctly. Teachers also use formative assessment of pupils’ knowledge when re-visiting tricky words previously studied in the curriculum, to check whether pupils remember them.
At the end of each academic year, pupils will be assessed agains the following:
