How We Teach Reading

Reading at Isleham C of E Primary School

At Isleham C of E Primary School we aim to immerse children in a rich reading environment and give them the opportunity to explore a wide range of quality texts. This supports word recognition, comprehension and vocabulary development.             

In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, reading is taught through Little Wandle Phonics. You can read more about the teaching of phonics in the 'How we Teach Phonics' section of our website.

As part of our Little Wandle Phonics programme, children in Reception through to Year 2 take part in 'Reading Practice' sessions. These take place 3 times a week to practice the skills of decoding, prosody and comprehension. 

Reading For Pleasure

At Isleham C of E Primary School we believe that reading should be a fundamental part of childhood and a skill which should be developed to support lifelong learning. Reading enjoyment has been reported as more important to children's educational success than their family's social-economic status (OECD, 2002). 

Our aim is to develop and embed a strong, sustainable reading culture within the school community. Confident and competent readers will foster a love of reading through a rich and varied experience of texts, in which they are empowered to exercise freedoms of choice and independence.

Inspiring children to read is a moral imperative and their fundamental right. It underpins all learning and secures a good trajectory for personal development, understanding the world in which they live.

We believe that a reading child is a successful child and that:

  • Children deserve a rich curriculum which encourages extensive reading of books and other kinds of texts;
  • Children will have the opportunity to experience whole books to support them in their understanding of literary structures and allow them to become absorbed in the story itself;
  • The active encouragement of reading for pleasure should be a core part of every child’s educational entitlement, whatever their background or attainment. Extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts make a huge contribution to students’ educational achievement;
  • Children will be encouraged to read texts which reflect their own heritage and that of other cultural groups. Children should be allowed to explore and engage with texts in their native language;
  • All children should have access to a wide range of texts in different formats and genres and support in enjoying them where necessary;
  • The school will engage and support parents in enabling access to a full range of reading experiences. Where this is not possible, action will be taken to provide compensatory measures which allow equality of access to all children;
  • Home-school relationships will promote the importance of all adults in fostering a love of reading.


We have a well stocked library filled with high-quality, engaging books to inspire a life-long love of reading. These include many recently published books that reflect a diverse range of characters and families, promote children's wellbeing and kindness and address issues that we know children care about such as climate change.

Teachers regularly read aloud to the children. These texts are chosen so that there is a range of high quality, diverse texts to engage and appeal to the children. Children are also given opportunities to read independently so that they can 'put in the reading miles.' Teachers promote reading for pleasure through making book recommendations and informal book talk. They recommend books in the books corners which contain a limited number of front facing books (bookshop style) so that the children can browse easily. 


Reading Books

Children across the school take home a reading book appropriate to their reading ability in addition to a library book to foster a love of reading. Collins Big Cat books have been chosen to complement the Little Wandle books to ensure a consistent approach.