At Joseph Clarke School, we want every pupil to become as confident, independent and successful a reader as possible. Our pupils have vision impairment, including pupils who are blind, and may also have additional learning, sensory or communication needs. We therefore combine high expectations with specialist teaching and accessible resources so that barriers to reading are removed without reducing curriculum ambition.

Our reading curriculum develops both the ability to read words accurately and fluently and the ability to understand, discuss and enjoy increasingly rich texts. Read Write Inc. (RWI) Phonics provides the systematic synthetic phonics sequence for pupils who are learning to decode. Older pupils who still need this foundational teaching may access Read Write Inc. Fresh Start, where appropriate. Alongside this, through our English curriculum, pupils encounter high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry so that vocabulary, comprehension, knowledge of the world and a love of reading develop together.

We want pupils to see themselves as readers. Independent reading, book-banded texts, age-respectful materials for older pupils, teacher-led class reading and carefully selected high-quality texts all contribute to a reading culture in which pupils can practise, enjoy, discuss and learn from books. Within Primary English, core texts are predominantly drawn from The Literacy Tree; the wider reading offer also uses sources such as RWI Mirrors and Doors, BookTrust to ensure that texts shared with the children are high quality.

Purpose & Aims

• Teach pupils the knowledge and skills needed to decode words accurately and develop increasingly fluent word reading.
• Provide a clear, cumulative route through phonics using RWI and, for older pupils who need it, Fresh Start.
• Develop fluency through successful practice, rereading and appropriately matched texts.
• Develop vocabulary, language comprehension and knowledge of the world through high-quality literature and discussion.
• Enable pupils to retrieve, predict, infer, summarise, explain and justify ideas with increasing independence.
• Promote a positive reading identity and a sustained enjoyment of books and reading.
• Ensure older pupils working at earlier reading stages have access to age-respectful and engaging texts.
• Ensure Braille, large print and other adaptations provide access without lowering the intended reading learning.
• Use assessment to identify what is secure, what is not yet secure and what needs to be taught next.

How Reading Is Taught (Click to Expand)

1. Systematic Word Reading: Read Write Inc.

RWI Phonics provides the core sequence and teaching principles for pupils who are learning to decode. Teaching is explicit, cumulative and responsive to pupils’ stage of learning rather than chronological age. Pupils develop sound knowledge, blending for reading, segmenting for spelling and increasingly automatic word recognition.

During direct phonics and decoding practice, books and texts are closely matched to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences pupils have been taught. This gives pupils successful practice in applying known phonic knowledge and supports accuracy, confidence and fluency.

Ongoing RWI assessment identifies pupils’ current knowledge, appropriate teaching groups, gaps and next steps. Where prerequisite knowledge is insecure, it is taught explicitly, practised and reviewed rather than allowing the gap to remain a barrier to later reading.

2. Catch-up Reading for Older Pupils: Fresh Start

Fresh Start is used, where appropriate, for older pupils who have not yet secured the foundations of word reading. It provides systematic phonics teaching through materials that are designed to be more age-respectful for older readers. Pupils continue to develop decoding, fluency, spelling and comprehension while maintaining dignity, motivation and access to the wider curriculum.

3. Fluency

Fluency is deliberately developed because accurate decoding must become increasingly automatic if pupils are to focus attention on meaning. Pupils reread appropriately matched texts and are given repeated opportunities to read successfully, building accuracy, automaticity, phrasing and expression where appropriate.

For Braille readers, fluency includes increasingly secure tactile recognition, tracking and efficient reading in the pupil’s literacy medium. Progress is considered from the pupil’s starting point; speed alone is not used as a measure of successful reading.

4. Independent Reading and Book Banding

Alongside direct instruction, pupils use a book-banding system to support regular independent reading, the application of reading skills and enjoyment of books. Texts are organised by level of difficulty so that pupils experience appropriate challenge and success.

Book-band levels are reviewed termly. Teacher judgement considers accuracy, fluency, understanding and independence, so movement through a colour or level is not treated as the sole measure of progress.

For pupils still learning the alphabetic code through RWI or Fresh Start, independent word-reading practice remains closely matched to the sounds and correspondences already taught. Book-banded texts support the wider reading offer but do not replace matched decodable practice when a pupil is in the early stages of learning to read.

5. Age-Respectful Texts for Older Readers

Reading level and chronological age do not always align. Joseph Clarke School has therefore levelled a range of texts that are suitable for older pupils working at earlier reading stages. These texts are chosen to be engaging and developmentally appropriate while remaining accessible enough for pupils to practise reading successfully.

6. Comprehension, Vocabulary and Reading to Learn

Comprehension is developed through high-quality texts, discussion and the deliberate teaching of vocabulary and background knowledge. Pupils learn to sequence and retell, ask and answer questions, retrieve information, predict, infer, summarise, identify themes and conventions, explore language and structure, distinguish fact from opinion where appropriate, and justify ideas using evidence.

Word reading and comprehension are connected but require different kinds of teaching. A pupil may therefore be working on early decoding while taking part in ambitious teacher-led discussion of a richer text that is beyond their independent reading level. Comprehension is not reduced to practising question types: pupils build understanding by encountering increasingly rich language, ideas, genres and knowledge of the world.

7. Teacher-Led Class Reading and High-Quality Texts

Teacher-led class reading gives pupils access to texts that build vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, discussion and enjoyment. Teachers select books that are developmentally appropriate to the class and may read texts that pupils could not yet access independently because adult reading, explanation and specialist adaptation remove the decoding or access barrier.

Text selection is purposeful. Staff consider the quality of language and writing, pupil interest, developmental appropriateness, representation, opportunities to broaden knowledge, accessibility in the pupil’s reading medium and how the text prepares pupils for future reading. A useful curriculum question is: ‘Why this text, for these pupils, at this point?’

Where a shared class text or sequence is beyond an individual pupil’s current stage of development, an alternative high-quality text or smaller-group sequence may be used to secure prerequisite knowledge without reducing ambition.

8. Reading for Pleasure and Reading Identity

Learning to read and wanting to read are both important. Through independent reading, class reading and regular exposure to high-quality literature, pupils are supported to develop interests, preferences and a positive identity as readers.

The reading offer balances familiarity and discovery. Pupils encounter texts that connect with their interests and experiences while also meeting new people, places, cultures, ideas and perspectives. Staff model positive attitudes to books and use discussion to help pupils talk about what they enjoy and why.

9. Accessible Reading for Pupils with Vision Impairment

Accessibility is planned from the outset. Depending on individual need, pupils may read through Braille, large print, accessible digital formats or other appropriate media, with tactile or adapted supporting materials where needed as the route into the text may change; the ambition to become a reader does not.

10. Assessment and Responsive Teaching

Assessment is used to diagnose need and inform teaching. Joseph Clarke School uses ongoing RWI or Fresh Start assessment, termly book-band review and day-to-day teacher assessment.

• RWI and Fresh Start assessment identifies secure knowledge, gaps and the next teaching step. All new starters are assessed when they join.
• Book-band levels are reviewed termly to monitor independent reading and ensure an appropriate level of challenge.
• Teachers consider accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and independence through reading, discussion and observation.
• Where progress is slower than expected, staff identify the specific barrier - for example insecure phonics, limited fluency, vocabulary or background-knowledge gaps, comprehension difficulty, or an access issue - and are supported by specialists to adjust teaching accordingly.
• Progress is understood as increasingly secure reading knowledge, fluency, comprehension, independence and engagement, not movement through a book-band level alone.

Curriculum Progression (Click to Expand)

Reading at Joseph Clarke School is not organised through Key Stage. Instead, teaching draws on the relevant word-reading and comprehension strands of the National Curriculum according to each pupil’s current stage and next steps.

Across the curriculum, pupils move from learning to decode and recognise words, towards increasingly automatic and fluent reading, broader vocabulary and knowledge, deeper comprehension, and greater independence in reading to learn and reading for pleasure. This is not a rigid staircase: pupils may listen to and discuss ambitious texts well beyond the level they can currently decode independently.

Primary National Curriculum strands used to inform progression:

• Word reading: phonics, decoding, recognition of familiar words, increasingly accurate and fluent reading, and rereading appropriately matched texts.
• Comprehension: vocabulary, sequencing and retelling, questioning, retrieval, prediction, inference, summarising, themes and conventions, language and structure, fact and opinion, discussion and justification with evidence.
• Reading widely: fiction, non-fiction and poetry that extend vocabulary, knowledge of the world, imagination and enjoyment of reading.

How We Know the Curriculum Is Working

• Pupils become increasingly accurate, automatic and fluent in their own reading medium.
• Pupils secure and apply the phonics knowledge needed for independent word reading.
• Older pupils who require catch-up teaching make progress through Fresh Start and appropriately matched practice.
• Pupils develop richer vocabulary and broader knowledge that support comprehension.
• Pupils retrieve, predict, infer, summarise, discuss and justify with increasing independence and depth.
• Pupils engage with increasingly rich and varied texts and develop interests, preferences and a positive reading identity.
• Pupils use reading increasingly independently to learn across the curriculum and to participate in school and everyday life.
• For pupils with more complex needs, meaningful progress may also be seen in listening and attention, phonological awareness, recognition of sounds, symbols or words, participation in literacy and functional use of reading and communication.

Alignment with the Curriculum Framework for Vision Impairment (CFVI)

The reading curriculum supports the school’s wider CFVI priorities, particularly communication, literacy, independence and self-advocacy.

• Area 3 - Communication: developing language, discussion and the ability to express and justify ideas.
• Area 4 - Literacy: developing reading through specialist and accessible approaches, including Braille where appropriate.
• Area 9 - Health, Social, Emotional, Mental and Physical Wellbeing: supporting confidence, identity, choice and self-advocacy through reading.