Love of Reading at Barford Primary School

📖 Intent

At Barford Primary School, we believe reading is the foundation for success and a gateway to the wider world. Our intent is not only to teach children to read fluently and accurately, but to nurture a lifelong love of reading that reflects our school values of Respect, Ambition, Honesty, Confidence, Self-Control and Resilience.

Through reading, we develop children who are:

• Respectful of different cultures, viewpoints and experiences through diverse, high-quality literature.

• Ambitious in their reading choices, eager to explore new authors, genres and challenging texts.

• Honest in their reflections, able to discuss books thoughtfully and form their own opinions.

• Confident readers who can articulate their ideas clearly.

• Self-controlled learners who sustain focus and read independently with purpose.

• Resilient when encountering unfamiliar vocabulary or complex texts.

We aim for every child at Barford to see themselves as a reader and to understand that reading is both a vital life skill and a source of enjoyment.

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📚 Implementation

We promote a love of reading through a consistent and carefully planned whole-school approach.

Our implementation includes:

• A strong, systematic phonics programme — Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised — which is taught daily in Early Years and Key Stage 1 to ensure secure foundations in early reading.

• Daily story time in every class to model expressive, enthusiastic reading.

• Carefully selected, high-quality texts that broaden horizons and deepen understanding.

• Explicit teaching of vocabulary and comprehension strategies.

• Dedicated time for independent reading and reading for pleasure.

• Inviting classroom reading areas and regular access to the school library.

• Opportunities for book talk, recommendations and peer discussion.

• Celebrations such as World Book Day and themed reading events.

• Strong partnerships with parents to support reading at home.

Teachers ensure children are supported and challenged appropriately, encouraging ambition in book choices and resilience when texts become more demanding.

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🌟 Impact

The impact of our reading curriculum is seen in children who:

• Read fluently, accurately and with growing confidence.

• Speak enthusiastically about books, authors and genres.

• Demonstrate ambition by selecting a wide range of texts.

• Show resilience when tackling unfamiliar words and complex ideas.

• Respect different perspectives encountered through literature.

• Develop sustained focus and self-control during independent reading.

Most importantly, our pupils leave Barford Primary School as confident, resilient readers who value reading not just as a school skill, but as a lifelong source of knowledge, imagination and enjoyment.