"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13)

Intent - How our curriculum is structured and organised

At The King’s C of E School we foster a love of reading across our curriculum and beyond.  We believe the skill and pleasure of reading is an intrinsic and precious life skill that ensures future success for all our children. We nurture a community where reading is at its heart.

Our reading journey begins and is developed in the early years, where we immerse children in a phonetic and text rich environment. This is enhanced through progressive skill-based teaching of reading and reinforced through reading for pleasure that inspires and motivates.

Evidence from the OECD (2002) stated that “reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s success.” Therefore, we have developed a reading curriculum that immerses our children into a broad range of texts that offer depth and breadth, but that can also support, challenge and engage readers.

We ensure all children have access to and are open to the wonderful variety the world of books offers. This means we continually review the texts we offer our children, ensuring they are inclusive, rich and explore a range of genres, so all children can develop a love, enjoyment and respect for the written word that will stay with them for life.   

Implementation - How our curriculum is taught

The teaching of reading at The King’s school develops comprehension, inference, and retrieval skills alongside focusing on reading fluency and accuracy. Progress is assessed through a range of means from 1:1 reading, guided reading and formative assessment tools such as NFER assessments. All progress is discussed during parents evening consultations and when a child needs extra help with reading, a bespoke programme is established to ensure progression. The focus of this programme is on what they are reading, maintaining their enjoyment of reading, whilst establishing what they are finding difficult and need more help with.

Please scroll down to the end of the page to view:

• The King’s School reading skills and progression map
• Texts used across the school in English lessons in each term.  

If you are not sure how to promote reading at home, and/or what book to recommend next to you child, please see our reading recommendations page where you will find a range of reading spines and ideas for all age groups.

Each child’s reading journey is supported by:

Early Reading

Our reading journey begins and is developed in the early years. Please refer to the phonics zone on our website to find out more about how phonics is taught at The King’s School.

Jolly phonics readers are used at the very start of a child’s reading journey. They are used to support and reinforce phonics learning and teaching that has already taken place.  They introduce alternative ways of spelling the letter sounds, with each level building on the words learned in the previous level. These books are given alongside ‘reading for pleasure books’ that focus on building comprehension, inference and retrieval skills as well as a love of reading.

Sparks Book Awards

This exciting borough wide initiative provides a unique opportunity for children to explore and be immersed in a range of modern texts. Each year a specially selected set of books are shared and read in class (by the class teacher) and their merits discussed which provide teachers with an opportunity to model the reading process. As part of the process, children also meet and engage with different authors through ‘virtual meetings’. The children then vote on their favourite book alongside other children in the borough and an overall winner is declared.

Reading Corners / Class Libraries/ Reading Sheds 

Each classroom has an area dedicated to books and reading, providing an opportunity for children to access and share a range of texts selected specifically for their age and stage of reading. These areas change over the year, offering children a wide range of books. Reading recommendations are promoted in class to help foster the love of reading, broaden the range of books children select and enable children to voice their reading experiences.

We also have reading sheds in both KS1 and KS2 playgrounds, where children are encouraged to choose a book and read during breaktimes.  Play Leaders run the reading sheds to ensure they are kept tidy and organise recommendation cards inside the books.  

World Book Day and Author visits

World book day at The King’s School is always a memorable event. It is a day when we promote and value books, authors and reading itself and every year is different!  We don’t just stop there, due to our ongoing partnership with our local Kew bookshop, we are able to offer author visits throughout the year. These popular events not only reinforce the love of reading, but provide children with the opportunity to meet and listen to an author and be inspired, ask questions and explore the writing process that goes into producing a narrative.

Battle of the Books 

Each year, a group of children are chosen to 'battle' against other schools in Richmond.  The team spend time in school reading the chosen books and preparing themselves for the competition.  During the 'battle' the team organise themselves, answer individual questions, discuss the books they have read and often include drama and art into their presentations.  It is always a fun and memorable experience for those taking part to showcase their love for reading.  

Impact - A cohesive learning journey

Through the teaching of systematic phonics and reading enquiry, our aim is for children to become fluent and confident word readers by the end of KS1. As a Year 6 reader, transitioning into secondary school, we aspire that children are fluent, confident and able readers, who can access a range of texts for pleasure and enjoyment, as well as use their reading skills to unlock learning in all areas of the curriculum. We firmly believe that reading is the key to all learning and so the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the results of the statutory assessments and into a world of varied magical worlds that reading opens up. Developing our children's own interests in books through a range of texts, deepens a love of literature across the array of genres and styles.