“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” — Dr. Seuss

Our Intent

At St John’s Catholic Primary School, we want our pupils to develop a true love of reading and strive to provide them with a broad range of books that will entertain, teach, and inspire them. We use the aims of the National Curriculum as the foundation for our teaching.

The National Curriculum aims linked to reading ensure that all pupils:

• Read easily, fluently and with a good understanding
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
• Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.

At St John’s, we place high importance on the role and impact of reading. Every classroom has an inviting library stocked with a wide variety of quality books that create an excitement around reading. These books are changed every half-term to reflect learning themes in each classroom. This ensures our pupils remain excited about reading and have a constant flow of fresh and new material to read of all genres. Our intent is that our pupils enjoy reading for pleasure, whilst also seeing it as an important skill to master. Through books, we aim to ignite the pupil’s imagination, as well as expanding their understanding of the world around them. We explore books that span a range of genres, cultures and topics. Ranging from fun stories that will make them laugh, to books that will make the children wonder, empathise and question.

The books that we teach in class are carefully chosen for their rich vocabulary or inspiring content. The teaching of reading at St John’s also enables pupils to communicate effectively both inside and outside the classroom, using the vocabulary that they have acquired during reading sessions. We reward and celebrate the pupil’s achievements in reading, as well as setting challenges to encourage them to read more broadly. It is important to us that children leave our school enthusiastic about books and reading.

Our Long Term Overview: 

Celebrate Reading

Mrs Mann the secret reader                                         Reception on their first visit to the local library