At Robert Bakewell, we believe that reading is the foundation of all learning. Our aim is to develop confident, fluent readers who not only acquire the skills to succeed across the curriculum but also develop a genuine love of reading that lasts a lifetime.

We create a reading-rich environment where books are celebrated and readily accessible. Through high-quality teaching, engaging texts and daily opportunities to read, we encourage every child to discover the enjoyment of stories, information books, poetry and a wide range of genres.

Developing Fluent Readers

Reading is taught throughout the school using a progressive approach that builds fluency, comprehension and confidence.

Every child is read to daily, exposing them to rich vocabulary, ambitious texts and a love of storytelling. Children also take books home regularly, including both fiction and non-fiction. Reading books are carefully matched to each child's phonics knowledge or reading ability, ensuring they are appropriately supported and challenged.

We use the BoomReader app to strengthen our partnership with parents, enabling families to record reading at home. Children are rewarded and celebrated as they reach reading milestones, helping to foster positive reading habits.

To encourage reading for pleasure:

• EYFS and Key Stage 1 children take home a 'Bedtime Book' to share with their families.

• Key Stage 2 children choose a reading-for-pleasure book alongside their levelled reading book.

• Every classroom has an inviting reading corner, and all pupils have access to our well-stocked school library.

Early Reading and Phonics

We teach early reading through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme, a Department for Education validated systematic synthetic phonics scheme.

Daily phonics lessons in EYFS and Year 1 enable children to develop secure decoding skills, while carefully matched Little Wandle reading books build fluency, prosody and comprehension through repeated reading. Children who require additional support continue to receive targeted teaching and keep-up interventions to ensure no child falls behind.

Reading in Key Stage 2

As children become fluent readers, the focus shifts towards developing deeper comprehension skills.

From Year 2 onwards, children take part in structured reading lessons using the VIPERS approach, developing their understanding of:

• Vocabulary

• Inference

• Prediction

• Explanation

• Retrieval

• Summarising and Sequencing

Children explore a rich range of high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry, helping them read with understanding, think critically and appreciate different authors, themes and viewpoints.

Celebrating Reading

Reading has a high profile throughout our school. We celebrate reading through events such as World Book Day, author and book-themed activities, reading challenges and our weekly celebration assemblies.

Our recently refurbished school library provides an inspiring space where children can discover new books, explore their interests and develop a lifelong love of reading.

We recognise that parents play a vital role in developing successful readers. Throughout EYFS and Key Stage 1, we offer phonics and reading workshops to help families support their children's learning at home.

Our aim is for every child to leave Robert Bakewell Primary School as a fluent, confident and enthusiastic reader who chooses to read for both learning and pleasure.

Spelling

At Robert Bakewell Primary School, spelling is taught progressively from EYFS to Year 6, building upon children's phonics knowledge and developing their understanding of how words are constructed.

• EYFS and Year 1 follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme, where spelling is taught alongside daily phonics.

• Year 2 uses the Little Wandle Spelling programme, providing a seamless transition from phonics to independent spelling through structured teaching and application.

• Key Stage 2 follows the Spelling Shed programme, a research-informed approach that develops children's understanding of spelling through morphology, etymology and spelling patterns rather than simple memorisation.

Regular assessment and retrieval practice ensure children revisit previously taught learning, apply spelling accurately across the curriculum and develop confidence as independent writers.

Phonics

Our Phonics provision is excellent and is taught across Reception and KS1. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds SSP scheme (fully validated by the DfE). The children are taught daily for 20 minutes in whole class and small groups. We use regular assessment points to ensure children are on track and that the keep up not catch approach is effective and robust.

Teachers will always keep you informed about your child’s progress and we encourage parents to proactively engage with Reading. Teachers plan collaboratively and regularly review their teaching to ensure consistency and accurate progression for all pupils.

Text choice

We place a high importance on the text we choose to teach reading ensuring that it is sufficiently complex for the children. Staff at Robert Bakewell read to their children daily for 15 minutes choosing either short stories, picture books or a longer text where appropriate. We call this our ‘Daily Reader’.

CLPE – The Power of Reading

A Robert Bakewell, we use a book study approach to English utilising The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. The CLPE is a charity working with all those involved in teaching literacy in primary schools.  Their work raises the achievement of children by helping schools to teach literacy more effectively and showing teachers how quality children’s literature can be placed at the heart of all learning – promoting the value of reading.

Their latest impact report measures growth and impact on literacy learning and teaching across 2014-2019. It has brought together data from their nationwide training courses, as well as our leading research in the field of picture books (The Power of Pictures), diversity and representation (Reflecting Realities), and poetry, including the CLPE poetry award, CLiPPA.

"In this impact report we wanted to share some of the evidence we have collected and to highlight the way in which our partnerships, our rigorous approaches and our proven commitment to quality have helped us to support the improved literacy learning of so many children." CLPE CEO Louise Johns-Shepherd

The report also showcases the impact Their CPD has had on the professional development of over 2,966 teachers, with 100% of teachers saying they would recommend our training to others. 

Research carried out by Leeds Trinity University on their flagship programme, the Power of Reading, is also featured in the report, evidencing that children make an additional 6 months’ progress in reading and writing in schools that use the programme compared to their peers.

Primary and secondary text

CLPE supports the selection of high quality primary text for purpose. The primary text is the book which our literacy is focussed on to give purpose to the writing outcomes. All of our primary texts are fiction based.

Secondary texts are used to support knowledge acquisition and understanding of the primary text. These are often non-fiction texts. Research shows children find non-fiction difficult to digest, especially non narrative non-fiction. Therefore by using non-fiction in a manner which supports the develops knowledge in a modelled way by adults, children can develop a strong understanding of the primary text.

Poetry

Through enjoying rhymes, poems and songs, and reciting poems or parts of longer poems together as a class, teachers can build children’s strong emotional connection to language.

Poetry in language-rich classrooms builds shared memories for all children. The predictability of rhymes in poems and songs also helps children to memorise and re-use newly acquired words and phrases. Learning poetry and songs using ‘call and response’ allows children to join in gradually. Each repetition strengthens their vocabulary, embedding new words.

Word knowledge exists on a continuum. As each word is acquired in the young child’s lexicon, it moves from the barest familiarity to an in-depth knowledge of that word, with all manner of associations and contexts.