At Abbey MAT, reading should be a normal, valued and visible part of school life.
Our aim is to create a diverse, inspiring and nurturing reading culture where all pupils develop confidence and a lifelong love of reading. Through rich and inclusive texts, pupils build knowledge, broaden their perspectives and develop curiosity, enabling them to access the wider curriculum and flourish beyond school.
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Quality first teaching: Highly impactful adaptive teaching which meets the diverse needs of all pupils, including disadvantaged learners and those with SEND in the classroom
Assessment: To accurately identify pupils鈥 reading progress to inform timely teaching, targeted support and challenge
Phonics: A strong and systematic provision
Guided reading: Learning to read, reading to learn
Faster Read
Targeted intervention: Ensuring all pupils keep up
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A strong reading culture: Including staff modelling reading and sharing enthusiasm for books
Pupil agency: Pupil choice
High-quality book talk linking directly to oracy
Regular opportunities for independent reading
Library visits and reading clubs
High-quality whole-school reading events (e.g. World Book Day, National Storytelling Week) that build sustained engagement
Opportunities to enjoy and perform poetry, developing confidence and appreciation of language
Planned author visits and external speakers, embedded into the curriculum and followed up meaningfully
Faster Read
Guided Reading
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Reading like an expert:
Pupils are regularly exposed to high-quality, subject-specific texts that develop and reinforce reading as a pathway to knowledge
A key focus upon subject specific vocabulary harnesses the mutually supportive relationship between oracy and literacy
Guided reading: Teacher-led reading where a range of reading strategies are explicitly modelled
Gradual release to independence: Teachers model expert reading, then support pupils to practise before applying strategies independently across subjects
