"If you don't like to read, you have not found the right book."

At St. Aidan’s, we are passionate about developing the competence of each and every reader while nurturing a real love for reading, which will remain with them for their entire lives.

Reading is a key life skill, not just as the foundation for academic success, but to also open up to children a love of exciting literature from around the world. Therefore, our aim is for our children to become independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers, who enjoy reading a variety of texts.

The love of reading starts within the reception year where reading begins with sharing books as a class, with small groups and reading individually. Please see our phonics page for more information on how reading is taught through phonics.

In Year 3 and 4, the Reading Workshop lessons continue to immerse the children in a wider range of high-quality texts, which link to and enhance the learning in theme work where appropriate. Naturally, the understanding and application of new and dynamic vocabulary is a focus and feature of all reading lessons. The aim is to develop the fluency of reading, deepening the children’s comprehension to enhance their independence and discussion around the text, which makes the reading an enjoyable session.

In Year 5 and 6, the reading lessons are key to encouraging pupils to read widely, across all genres, to develop their knowledge, to establish an appreciation and love of reading and to develop their comprehension skills across the curriculum. It is our intention that all pupils will be able to read fluently and with confidence and are ready to continue positively with their secondary education.