Shiney Row Primary School

Reading Curriculum

At Shiney Row Primary School, we believe that reading is the gateway to the wider world and the foundation for success across all subjects. From Nursery to Year 6, we nurture confident, fluent readers by teaching the full range of knowledge and skills outlined in Scarborough’s Reading Rope—a model which shows that skilled reading emerges from the intertwining of word recognition (phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition) and language comprehension (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge). These strands grow stronger as children develop fluency and automaticity, enabling reading to become increasingly effortless and meaningful.

In the early years and Key Stage 1, we teach phonics through Read Write Inc, providing highly structured, systematic instruction in decoding and phonological awareness. This aligns closely with the lower strands of the Reading Rope, where explicit instruction leads to secure, increasingly automatic word recognition. As children gain automaticity in decoding, cognitive space is freed for comprehension, supporting deeper thinking and engagement with texts.

Across all year groups, we place a strong emphasis on fluency, automaticity, and daily comprehension practice, ensuring that pupils not only read accurately but also develop the prosody, pace and understanding needed for skilled, fluent reading. The Reading Rope highlights how these skills work together to support strategic, confident reading that grows stronger over time.

High‑quality, carefully chosen texts are woven throughout our reading and writing curriculum. These texts provide rich vocabulary, varied language structures and broad background knowledge—all upper‑strand components of the Reading Rope shown to be essential for deep comprehension and long‑term reading success.

Through this rigorous, research‑informed approach—grounded in systematic phonics, explicit fluency instruction, strong foundational knowledge and rich literature—we ensure every child becomes a confident, capable reader who can access the full curriculum and enjoy reading for life.

Whole school English Programme of Study (pdf)