Reading
Click the button below to view a summary of our approach to reading at Dallimore.
Early Years Foundation Stage and Years 1 and 2
In EYFS and KS1, daily phonics lessons take place to support the development of children’s decoding skills. The Little Wandle scheme is used to provide a well-structured phonics scheme. We believe that regular, high-quality phonics sessions are fundamental to successful reading. Any children who fall behind with their phonics are quickly identified and interventions are put in place to support their progress. This may focus on identifying the sounds made by certain graphemes or on blending sounds. Little Wandle assessments used to keep an accurate and up-to-date record of what children need to develop.
Have a look at Little Wandle by clicking the logo below
Phonics Play can be used at home to help children practise their reading skills
KS1 reading lessons
In addition to daily phonics lessons, children in Reception and Key Stage 1 take part in three reading practice sessions each week. These small-group sessions follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme and focus on the three key elements of reading: decoding, prosody and comprehension.
At the start of each session, children revisit previously taught sounds, practise blending and segmenting words from the text, and review any common exception words. Children then read the same carefully matched book across the three sessions, allowing them to build confidence and develop increasing fluency with the text throughout the week.
Books are selected using Little Wandle assessment information to ensure that they closely match each child's current phonic knowledge. Reading sessions are delivered in small groups with an adult, enabling children to receive immediate support and feedback as they develop their accuracy, expression and understanding. As pupils become more familiar with the text, they are able to focus not only on reading the words correctly but also on reading with meaning and confidence.
KS1 reading journey
Click on the button below to see the KS1 reading journey and the books that children will read as part of our reading curriculum.
KS2 reading lessons
At Dallimore, we are committed to developing confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers. We recognise that reading fluency is the bridge between decoding and comprehension and place a high emphasis on ensuring that all children can read accurately, at an appropriate pace and with expression.
In Years 3 and 4, children participate in three Little Wandle Fluency lessons each week. Through repeated reading of carefully matched fiction and non-fiction texts, pupils develop the key components of fluency: accuracy, automaticity and prosody. Lessons combine oral reading, vocabulary development and rich discussion, helping children deepen their understanding while building confidence, stamina and enjoyment of reading.
In Years 5 and 6, children continue to develop fluency through regular reading lessons using a 'my turn, your turn' approach. Pupils read and discuss a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts, developing fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Non-fiction texts are often linked to the wider curriculum, enabling children to build and strengthen their knowledge of subjects.
All pupils in KS2 also participate in two whole-class reading sessions each week, based around a high-quality class novel. During these lessons, teachers model expert reading behaviours and comprehension strategies, regularly checking for understanding and teaching children how to retrieve information, infer meaning, predict, summarise and analyse an author's language and choices.
To further strengthen reading stamina and comprehension, all pupils in Years 5 and 6 use Reading Plus at least three times per week. This adaptive online programme provides personalised reading opportunities that develop reading efficiency, comprehension, vocabulary and independent reading habits.
Through high-quality fluency teaching, whole-class reading, Reading Plus and targeted intervention, we aim to develop pupils who read with confidence, understand what they read and foster a lifelong love of reading.
Click on the button below to view our rationale behind fluency sessions and the fluency lesson structure for KS2.
Click on the button below to view the long-term overview of texts used to develop reading fluency.
KS2 reading journey
Click on the button below to see the KS2 reading journey and the books that children will read as part of our reading curriculum.
Specialist reading teacher
We have a teacher dedicated to the teaching of reading in school. Miss Greaves supports staff in assessing, tracking and delivering highly effective phonics lessons, in addition to providing additional individual support to any children who might require it through targeted phonics interventions and through the Little Wandle Catch Up intervention.
Reading interventions
We are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a confident and successful reader. Where additional support is needed, we provide targeted interventions that are carefully matched to a child's specific area of need.
Children who require support with decoding receive focused phonics intervention to strengthen their knowledge of sounds and letter patterns, enabling them to read words with increasing accuracy and confidence.
For children who need to develop reading fluency, adults provide structured fluency practice through repeated reading of short texts and poems. Effective reading is modelled by a skilled adult before children re-read the text several times, helping them to improve their accuracy, pace and expression.
Where children can decode accurately and read fluently but require support with comprehension, they may take part in the Boosting Reading at Primary intervention (BR@P). This intensive one-to-one programme is designed to develop understanding, vocabulary and comprehension skills over a ten-week period.
We also have several members of staff trained to deliver the Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up programme. This intervention provides urgent, targeted support for pupils in Year 2 and above who are not yet reading at age-related expectations, helping them to quickly close gaps in their phonics knowledge and access the wider curriculum with confidence.
In Reception and Key Stage 1, children who are not yet fully secure with their reading practice book after their third reading session are provided with additional reading opportunities later in the week. These extra sessions offer valuable practice and support, helping children to keep up with the pace of the programme and continue making strong progress.
Book Club
Book Club is a twenty-minute slot in each class. During this time, the class teacher shares recommended books that children might wish to read for pleasure. The teacher will read the blurb, share the first chapter and engage in lots of discussion about the book. Other children will have the opportunity to recommended books too. We select our books using recommended reads for each year group.
Click on the link below to find books that your child might enjoy reading for pleasure.
Recommended books for each year group
Our library
We are fortunate to have a well-stocked school library that promotes a love of reading across the school. Library sessions are timetabled throughout the week, giving all classes the opportunity to explore a wide range of high-quality fiction and non-fiction texts and select books to enjoy at home.
Our library collection complements both the school's reading curriculum and classroom reading provision, ensuring that children have access to a diverse range of engaging and age-appropriate texts. Through regular library visits, pupils are encouraged to develop their reading interests, broaden their knowledge and read for pleasure.
A team of Library Monitors plays an important role in supporting the library. These pupils help to organise and maintain the library, recommend books to their peers and support younger children in selecting and borrowing books, helping to foster a positive reading culture throughout the school.
