Welcome To Our New website! Please bear with us as we migrate all of the most up-to-date documents and information over. Paper copies of the information on our website can be obtained from the school office if needed.
Welcome To Our New website! Please bear with us as we migrate all of the most up-to-date documents and information over. Paper copies of the information on our website can be obtained from the school office if needed.
St Day and Carharrack Primary School

Reading

Every Child, Every Day - A Reader

The Love of Reading at St Day and Carharrack School is promoted throughout the school in many different ways.

First and foremost, children can choose books to read for pleasure. This ensures they are interested and engaged in the book they read. 

Children will also be given a reading book which will be fully decodable and matched to their secure phonic knowledge. This will enable them to use the GPCs they know to decode the words and, with practise, develop fluency when reading. This will be monitored by the class teacher. 

Reading assembly happens weekly where the children get the chance to come together as a school or Key Stage and share quality texts. We want our children to be exposed to a diverse range of authors and genres so they can try something they have never heard of.

The school has high quality reading areas and a wonderful library that promotes a positive mindset towards reading as well as a love of reading for pleasure.

Our Reading Champions promote reading across the school by reading with younger classes, running the library and the lunchtime Book Club Corner in the hall and promoting new books they've read.  

At St Day and Carharrack we want all our children to:  

  • Enjoy, Engage and Excel in reading every day!
  • Develop a love of reading
  • Hear adults read daily so that fluent, expressive reading is modelled
  • Have opportunities throughout the week to read individually, paired and to develop their reading comprehension skills
  • Have books matched to their reading ability 
  • Read aspirational texts which can be linked to the wider curriculum
  • Develop comprehension skills
  • Talk about (and be aware of) authors, text and styles of writing with confidence, expressing their opinions freely
  • Be exposed to a wide range of texts, novels and poem from varying genres and authors
  • Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading
  • Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.


The teaching of reading happens daily and across the curriculum. In addition to RWI Phonics in KS1 and in KS2, the children are taught reading and comprehension using high quality core texts. These are studied in depth over the term and are also used as core starting points for the teaching of writing.

The VIPERS (Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise) approach is used for developing comprehension strategies. The children will answer VIPERS questions each week linked to the core text they are studying. Click on the core texts link below to see the books each year group are reading each term. In addition to these texts, every class will have a reading for pleasure class book that is shared each day.

After completing RWInc our children will move onto Rising Stars Reading Planet books and other matched banded books.

The children will move through banded books to ensure progression of reading fluency and comprehension skills.

Reading Planet is based on  a programme of books built around decoding, practice of phonics, building of vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Inside the front cover of each book is a list of words for pre-teaching, making it easy for parents and school adults to talk about unfamiliar vocabulary or tricky words before reading the text.

The books will provide the right stretch and challenge for children, and clear progression from band to band.  

Children with SEND and Reading

At St Day and Carharrack, we believe all children are readers and use a 'keep up, not catch up’ inclusive approach for all and in particular our children with SEND.

The current research from the Reading Framework states that a systematic synthetic phonics programme, e.g. RWInc, is the most effective way to teach reading to all children. 

We will offer additional help to our children with SEND which will include pre-teaching, same-day interventions and tutoring. This support will give vital additional opportunities to review and practise core knowledge for pupils who are working well below age-related expectations and or present with a specific learning difference around reading.