Learning to read is a vital skill for life and at Plaxtol Primary School we believe it is at the root of all learning. We aim to develop a love of reading in all our pupils and to help us achieve this all classrooms have well-equipped book corners with age appropriate texts, and all pupils also have a regular opportunity to visit the school library to choose books that engage and inspire them.  In addition to this, we ensure that quality texts are matched to our curriculum topics to enrich learning experiences and to foster a life-long love of learning.

In EYFS and KS1 our pupils begin their journey in learning to read using a systematic daily programme of phonics through ‘Little Wandle’.  This will teach pupils all of the sounds (phonemes) in the English language and how to write them (graphemes).  The children will bring home decodable books at the appropriate level to their stage of reading so they can practise and improve both their decoding and comprehension skills. Pupils will also learn to recognise by sight some of the common ‘non-decodable’ words.

In KS2 we use VIPERS as a structure for our guided reading lessons, ensuring all children are working towards the same objective at the same time.  Texts of high quality are carefully chosen by the class teachers and modelled in class.