At St Joseph's, we believe that Reading is the single most important transferable skill that we can equip our pupils with. Consequently, reading has both high priority and a high profile at our school. Reading takes place throughout the school day and learning outcomes linked to reading are taught in English lessons, as well as  in other areas of the curriculum, where appropriate.  During this time children are taught through the use of extracts and whole novels, where teachers and TAs model the reading process. Higher order reading skills, such as inference and deduction are taught, as well as grammatical and punctuation conventions. Poetry and play reading are taught with an awareness of final performance. Analysis and comprehension activities involving “real” texts are used to develop skills in these areas. 

Children also take part in 'Mini Missions' in Reading sessions, where the development of specific reading skills is the main focus.

At St Joseph's, children are read to by an adult every day and encouraging reading for pleasure is central to the high value we place on books. The love of reading is fostered, the art of speaking and listening is promoted and the enjoyment of writing is developed. All of these help us to support our children in using literature and the world around them to further themselves. The skills we harness from our language activities facilitate our children to become valued members of the community.

Reading and writing are taught closely to ensure the children recognise the links between the two and are able to transfer their skills accordingly. As a school, we provide the children with exposure to quality texts, often with cross curricular links, and opportunities to explore the language and writing techniques of a range of authors.

Our systematic teaching approach to phonics allows the children to learning letter sounds and blending them together to read and write words. As part of this, children have daily phonics sessions in small groups where they participate in speaking, listening and spelling activities that are matched to their developing needs. The teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment to ensure children are stretched and challenged and to identify children who may need additional support. Children work through the different phases, learning and developing their phonics sounds and knowledge on their journey to become fluent readers.