Reading and Phonics

At Salusbury, our vision is for our children to enjoy reading independently right from the start - to discover books that interest them, and to engage fully and critically with the ideas and information they encounter along the way. We want othem to be independent, thoughtful curious readers. Readers who talk about what they read and share their learning and excitement day after day. It is for this reason that we have a strong focus on reading comprehension from the start.

Reading is an area of excellence at Salusbury. Our strength lies in teachers’ confidence in the subject, starting with our early years phonics provision, following into the language rich environment fostered across the whole school. At the heart, we focus on a love of reading, rich texts and  vocabulary and ensuring the children leave our school as confident and independent readers.

 2 in 5 children are currently working at greater depth in Reading. This is undoubtedly due to their love of reading a variety of texts and having the skills and confidence to articulate and understand the  contexts they come across.

Teachers at Salusbury have a clear understanding of the progression of reading an it is a priority within school. The training  all staff have received means that they have the language, skills and confidence to  utilise this understanding within their teaching practice.

There is a clear progression from Nursery right up to Year 6.  A clearly defined route means that teachers are familiar with where the children have come from and where they need to get to. The structure of phonics and early reading in EYFS leads on to DSR (alongside phonics)in KS1, where the focus broadens out to reading and understanding texts as a whole through structured, guided activities. By the end of Year 2, we provide additional structure for Destination Reader, guiding children into reading comprehension and a love of reading.

We use Read Write Inc as  the basis of our phonics programme and this is tailored to ensure we meet the  needs of every child in school. You can find out more about Read Write Inc here 

Our curriculum and assessment is carefully crafted and considered to support children and teachers at every step of the reading journey. We understand that having confident teachers means our pupils will became confident readers. Consistency and outstanding practice have always been our aim. It is for this reason we are a nationally recognised Centre of Excellence for Reading with Challenge Partners as well as a hub schools for Daily Supported Reader. You can find out more about this on our Awards page as well as the Outreach section of our website.