“At Barley Fields, we don’t just teach children to read — we help them fall in love with reading.”
our Intent – This is what we want for our children
At Barley Fields, we believe that a love of reading is central to your child’s education. We want all children to experience the joy of books, explore a wide range of literature, and develop a deep appreciation for the written word. Reading is not just about decoding text—it is a gateway to imagination, knowledge, and understanding of the wider world. Our aim is for every child to become a fluent, confident, and independent reader, equipped with the skills to access all areas of the curriculum. We also value strong home-school partnerships to support reading at home.
Our Implementation – How we teach reading.
Our reading curriculum is progressive and structured, evolving as children move through school. Key features include:
- Quiet reading and story-time to develop a love of books and literature
- Structured and systematic phonics teaching
- Daily reading lessons as individuals, in groups and as a whole class using a variety of strategies to develop fluency, comprehension, and critical thinking
- Opportunities to read aloud both in school and at home
- Reading Plus – online platform to support reding fluency, develop comprehension and extend vocabulary understanding (Y3-6)
Resources and support:
- A rich literary environment with high-quality fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and reference books
- Enhanced reading for pleasure through the use of class readers, from each year group’s reading spine
- A book band system to support progression, including DfE-approved phonically decodable books for early readers
- Use of schemes like Smart Kids and Schofield and Sims for emergent readers
- Freedom for children to choose books that match their ability and interests
- Parental involvement through a Reading Record to track progress and encourage reading at home
Children in EY and KS1 begin with decodable reading books linked directly to their phonic skills and awe use progressive and decodable reading schemes by Smart Kids, Schofield and Sims and Oxford Reading Tree. We promote books for bedtime to support children listening to stories read aloud by adults at home.
Our book bands are carefully sequenced, provide reading progression and support teachers in making decisions to meet the needs of individual children, bringing variety and depth to children’s reading diets. As children progress into confident readers they are able to choose books freely from a structured range of texts making reading independent and enjoyable. In key stage two, book bandings link to the expected children’s reading levels, interests and the complexity of the texts that they encounter. At each key stage, children have the opportunity to choose ‘real’ books that appeal to their reading tastes whilst also matching their ability.
We use a breadth of resources to support and enhance our reading curriculum with a key focus on developing understanding, comprehension and to practise skills. These include:
We actively involve parents in the teaching of reading . Every child will bring reading materials home daily along with a personal Reading Record. This book is used across the school and we ask parents to make constructive comments and record when children practice their reading at home. We value parent support in completing the Reading Record as it has a major impact on children’s progress.
Our reading character Ravi represents the curriculum end points and supports children in developing the core skills and knowledge needed to grow as confident readers.
Our Impact – the difference it makes
Through our reading curriculum, children will:
- Be inspired and motivated to read
- Enjoy listening to stories read aloud
- Read fluently and confidently in a variety of contexts
- Use a range of strategies to decode and comprehend text
- Read aloud with expression and intonation
- Make excellent progress from their starting points
Our robust assessment and tracking systems ensure that children’s reading development is monitored and supported, leading to strong attainment outcomes. By the end of each key stage, children are expected to know, apply, and understand the reading skills outlined in the curriculum.