Reading

At St George's, reading is at the heart of the curriculum. We believe that strong reading skills enable children to access learning across all subjects while developing imagination, vocabulary and a lifelong love of books.

 

Intent

Our intent is for all children to become confident, fluent readers who can understand, enjoy and think critically about a wide range of texts. We aim to develop reading skills that enable pupils to:

• Read with fluency, accuracy and confidence
• Understand and discuss texts using rich vocabulary
• Develop comprehension skills such as inference, prediction and summarising
• Foster a love of reading for pleasure

We recognise that reading is a key life skill and are committed to ensuring every child makes strong progress, regardless of their starting point.

 

Implementation

Reading at Home

• All children are expected to read at least four times a week at home, with reading recorded in their reading record.
• Families play a vital role in supporting reading and developing positive reading habits.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1)

• Children are taught phonics daily to support early reading and spelling.
• Reading books are carefully matched to each child’s phonics ability, ensuring success and confidence.
• Children reread familiar texts to build fluency and comprehension.
• Once secure in phonics, children are supported to broaden their reading experiences.

Transition to Free Reading

• In KS1, when children are ready, they move onto ‘Free Reading’, allowing them to select texts that interest them and further develop reading stamina and enjoyment.

Key Stage 2 (KS2)

• Children receive daily guided reading sessions.
• Sessions focus on:
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary development
  • Comprehension through VIPERS questioning
    (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval, Summarising)
• Reading activities use a rich mix of fiction and non‑fiction texts, exposing pupils to a wide range of genres, authors and subject matter.

Through consistent teaching, targeted support and strong home–school partnerships, we ensure children leave St George's as confident and capable readers who are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Looking for inspiration for reading at home, please find below lists of recommended books to share with your child:

Library

The children can borrow books from our own library selection, too.

Reading at home - Boom Reader

Boom Reader is used in all year groups except Pre-School and Acorns to support reading between home and school. Each child from Year 1 through to year 6 has their own reading journey captured in one place for both parents and teachers to share and use to support children’s individual progress in reading. 

Through using Boom Reader, parents can easily read the successes and next steps identified by our team for their child while they are in school and, at the same time, share information with their child’s class teacher about how their child is reading at home. For example, staff and parents may note down any reading successes, any tricky words or general comments about how they were able to discuss a text.

Pupils can also log their own reading when they reach Year 3, create their own avatar, spend their gems and challenge their friends using the Boom Reader - Pupil Portal.

Getting started is quick and easy.

Every child is provided with a letter that contains our school code and their own unique pin code. Using the Boom Reader for parents (iOS & Android) or a web browser using the link parents.boomhub.app parents are able to use the school code and their child’s pin when prompted and that’s it, they're ready! There are also useful guides below which detail how to access Boom Reader via the App or the Web.

If parents require any additional help or support they are able to use the chat function in the Contact Us section on Boom Reader - Parents.