Reading

Read. Think. Imagine. Discover.

At John Gulson Primary School, we believe that reading is the key to unlocking lifelong learning, curiosity and opportunity.

We want every child to become a confident, fluent and enthusiastic reader who can read for both pleasure and information. Through carefully structured teaching and a rich range of high-quality texts, children develop the knowledge, vocabulary and comprehension skills they need to access the whole curriculum and make sense of the world around them.

Most importantly, we want our children to develop a genuine love of books and reading that stays with them long after they leave John Gulson.

Our Reading Journey

From learning to read → to reading to learn.

Children's reading develops progressively from Early Years through to Year 6.

Their journey begins with secure phonic knowledge, decoding and word recognition. As children become increasingly fluent, the emphasis gradually moves towards reading with expression, developing vocabulary, understanding increasingly challenging texts, making inferences and thinking critically about what they read.

 

🔤 DECODING → ⚡ FLUENCY → 🗣️ PROSODY → 💬 VOCABULARY → 🔎 COMPREHENSION → 💡 CRITICAL THINKING

 

Learning to Read → Reading to Learn

Early Reading

Building strong foundations.

In Early Years and Key Stage 1, children develop the essential foundations that allow them to become successful readers.

Our Guided Reading sessions provide systematic teaching of:

Phonic knowledge • Decoding • Common Exception Words • Fluency • Prosody • Vocabulary • Comprehension

Children have repeated opportunities to read texts, apply their phonics, listen to fluent reading and develop increasing independence.

Teachers explicitly model expression, phrasing, pace and intonation, helping children move beyond simply decoding words towards reading fluently and meaningfully.

READING POLICY 2026-2027

 

 Our School Values Book Spine