At Bletchingley Village Primary School, we believe reading is the most important skill we can teach our children, serving as the gateway for every child to become a lifelong learner. For this reason, reading is a priority in all classes, and our curriculum is designed to ensure that every pupil can communicate and engage with the world confidently and effectively.

Our Early Reading Journey

The foundation of our reading provision begins with a robust, structured synthetic phonics approach. We use Twinkl Phonics and Rhino Readers to ensure children apply their phonetic knowledge to decode unfamiliar words with increasing accuracy and speed. This is complemented by the CUSP Early Foundations Structured Storytime, which uses high-quality literature to introduce pupils to foundational knowledge, rich vocabulary, and the joy of shared stories from their very first days in school.

The CUSP Reading Curriculum

As children progress through the school, we utilise the CUSP Reading curriculum, an evidence-led framework built on three key pillars: explicit vocabulary instruction, explicit fluency instruction (prosodic reading), and consistent opportunities to think hard.

Our curriculum is designed to offer both breadth and depth through a carefully curated literature spine. This spine provides "windows, mirrors, and sliding doors" into the world, exploring "Big Ideas" such as environmental responsibility, migration, and heritage.

How We Teach Reading

• A Diet of Excellence: Each year, the group follows 18 blocks of study, each lasting two weeks. Pupils study a core text in depth alongside supplementary texts deliberately written to build background knowledge and strong schemas.
• Explicit Fluency: We use agreed prosodic reading strategies—such as echo reading, text marking, and choral reading—to bridge the gap between word recognition and deep comprehension.
• Vocabulary Attack: We move language from receptive to expressive stores through a multi-faceted approach, ensuring children don't just recognise words but can use them meaningfully in their own communication.
• Core Competencies: Our teaching is mapped against nine core competencies, including retrieving key details, authorial intent, and thematic understanding, ensuring pupils develop into personal, critical readers.

Our Ambition

It is our intention that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently and with confidence in any subject. By combining high-quality structures with ambitious literature, we prepare our children for their secondary education and empower them to become readers for life who can meaningfully question and explore the world around them.