Reading

At Hunslet Moor, reading is our passion.

Intent

At Hunslet Moor Primary School, reading is at the heart of school life and is celebrated throughout the building with vibrant displays, class texts and welcoming classroom libraries that reflect our diverse community. We are committed to helping children develop a love of reading and launched our successful ‘Year of Reading’ to inspire pupils through exciting events and activities. These have included author workshops and whole-school celebrations designed to show children the power of reading to shape their futures. The initiative has been highly successful, and the school is dedicated to building on this success each year. We aim for all children to become lifelong readers who can achieve their full potential and positively contribute to their communities. Partnerships with organisations such as The Literacy Trust, Leeds Libraries and The Book Trust further strengthen our reading culture and inspire pupils to read widely and often.

Implementation

At Hunslet Moor Primary School, dedicated reading lessons, called Reading for Meaning, take place in Years 2–6, totaling 2.5 hours per week, and are carefully planned around the Long Term Plan designed by Reading Leaders. Fluency is explicitly taught weekly to help children read with expression and intonation, supported by internal CPD from The Fluency Project. Children who complete the RWI programme take home banded books and an additional book for pleasure, encouraging shared reading at home. Reading records are maintained in paper form for most year groups, while Years 2 and 6 use Class Dojo to record and share their reading creatively, including videos, photos, and reading journals. Weekly celebration assemblies reward children for their reading achievements with certificates and books, and every child receives a book at Christmas. Daily story time at 3 PM allows pupils to engage with carefully chosen class texts, fostering a love of reading and supporting writing skills across the school.

Impact

At Hunslet Moor Primary School, the ultimate goal is for all pupils to leave Year 6 as fluent, capable, lifelong readers, and the school holds itself accountable to this aim through clear, ambitious targets. Progress is regularly assessed using multiple methods, with Years 2 and 6 following a robust timetable based on past statutory assessments to inform teaching and support children needing extra help. Termly reports from the Reading Lead analyse formative and summative assessments and are shared with the English Lead and Senior Leadership Team to guide action plans and targeted interventions. In Years 3–5, Rising Stars assessments are used each term to evaluate both fiction and non-fiction reading, with adjustments for pupils below age-related expectations and half-termly phonics assessments for those still accessing RWI. Starting in 2022, reading fluency is measured termly for Years 1–6 through words per minute, giving teachers precise insight into each child’s reading ability and ensuring that explicit fluency teaching is tailored to meet pupils’ needs.

Reading for Pleasure

Progression Documents