Developing Reading Skills
At May Park, children develop their reading skills through the use of phonically decodable books, which support them at the early stages of their reading journey. Once they are confident and fluent at a Key Stage 1 level, they progress to Big Cat reading books. These are carefully graded to match each child’s individual reading ability.
Some pupils may require targeted intervention to become fluent readers. This often includes extra phonics support, followed by additional fluency practice once phonics knowledge is secure. A range of diagnostic tools is used to assess needs, including the school’s own phonics checks, Pixel assessments, and the Multidimensional Fluency Rubric. All assessments and intervention records are maintained in the school’s catch-up reading files.
In Key Stage 2, reading is centred around a carefully selected core text. This whole-class model ensures every child can engage with high-quality literature and build skills in inference, deduction, and comprehension. Reading Reconsidered strategies are again used to enrich this process.
Throughout a child’s time at May Park, they will read a diverse range of texts, chosen with the ‘The Five Plagues of The Developing Reader’ in mind:
- Archaic language
- Non-linear time sequences
- Narratively complex texts
- Complexity of story texts
- Resistant texts
Fluency remains a key priority throughout our reading curriculum. We draw on strategies from Doug Lemov’s Reading Reconsidered to guide our teaching. Fluent reading, with appropriate prosody—an important predictor of comprehension—is fostered through guided oral reading sessions. Pupils are supported in activating background knowledge to help them make sense of a text’s context. Vocabulary development is also emphasised, with new words introduced both directly and through context.
Comprehension strategies are taught through modelling and guided practice. Children learn to make predictions, ask and answer questions, summarise, and infer meaning, with a strong focus on collaborative discussion and reflective thinking. They are encouraged to review and refine their written responses to improve understanding.
Children are motivated to explore a wide range of genres and texts, with frequent opportunities to use class and school libraries. Their reading progress at home and school is tracked using Reading Records. Stories are regularly shared in class to promote a love of reading and to inspire imagination. During reading sessions, pupils enhance their fluency, expression, and comprehension by engaging with various texts. They analyse authors’ writing styles, vocabulary choices, punctuation, and compare different types of writing.
The whole school community enjoys regular visits to the school library, with all children able to borrow books to take home and enjoy. We also benefit from regular visits from real authors- allowing the children to interact, ask questions and be inspired.
Student link for Star Reading