Reading & Writing Curriculum

Rationale

At TVEd, we recognise the importance of English in the curriculum and in our daily lives. We believe pupils should be exposed to a wide range of high quality texts which will enable them to access and learn about the wider world. Through a high-quality English curriculum, we aim to support children in developing skills that will enable them to be lifelong learners and have a profound influence on their progress in school.

Reading is crucial in enabling access in all areas of the curriculum. Children will be given opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding within a broad and balanced curriculum, with opportunities to identify and build on prior knowledge within a sequence of learning. We aim to provide children with the best possible opportunities to become confident, literate and successful members of society with a deep love and understanding of English language and literature. 

The aim is that teachers of reading at TVEd have a good knowledge of the curriculum, an understanding of effective pedagogies and provide high quality models as a speaker, reader and writer. We aspire for all teachers to be readers of children’s books and be confident in teaching children to comprehend texts and develop a love of reading. 

This framework is designed therefore to support all teaching staff in the consistent delivery of reading across the trust so we build successful readers.  

Reading and Writing

Whilst the reading and writing approach stand-alone from each other there may be features in the reading text that can be highlighted to support the quality of writing by providing children with information or some specific features which will be useful to their independent writing. Making these kinds of links must not distract from exploring the text as a quality reading experience or quality writing experience. However, there is an expectation that the reading used will influence the writing and the writing genre should influence the reading comprehension texts and strategies chosen.

At TVEd the interplay between reading and writing is central to supporting our children to be successful. Below is our overview map:

Purpose

Intent

At TVEd, we strive to help our children develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, who are well-equipped with the basic skills they need to become life-long learners and have a positive impact on our community and industry at the heart of our area; English learning is key in this. We aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word, through a text-based approach; this links closely to the way we teach writing, as the text that we use in reading lessons, where possible, is a similar text to the one that we use in our writing lessons so that children are able to contextualise and apply their learning. 

Careful links are made across the curriculum to ensure that children’s English learning is relevant and meaningful: where possible making links between reading and writing but also with the wider curriculum and world. We ensure that children develop an understanding of how texts are used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills are that they are learning. Our intentions in reading are for children to:

• Develop a love of reading. 
• Read for purpose and identify the audience of different genres.
• See themselves as readers.
• Take ownership of their reading choices. Read a range of texts. 
• Be able to comprehend across a range of opportunities
• Vary their reading according to the purpose

Implementation

Our TVEd curriculum is shaped by the ethos ‘We are what we repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit’ which aims to enable all children, regardless of ability, additional needs or levels of disadvantage to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be. 

We teach the National Curriculum, supported by text spines for a range of purposes. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children regardless of age, phase and stage. We aim to develop children’s ability to comprehend the texts they read and apply this skill in all areas of the curriculum. 

Throughout the Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, we teach reading through a text-based approach linked to their writing, which allows us to meet the needs of the children that we are teaching – through choosing a text that will engage, inspire and motivate. As well as reading a wide variety of texts, children are given frequent opportunities to develop their writing skills in different genre and forms. Children will experience a balance of fiction, non-fiction and poetry in each term and will revisit text types in subsequent year groups to allow for spaced retrieval and to embed the science of learning and cognitive theory within all that they do. 

Across the full Primary age range, the reading framework should be tailored to meet the needs of all pupils relative to age, stage and phase. At Tees Valley Education this incorporates our Formal, Semiformal+ and Semiformal curriculum pathways, teachers should tailor the teaching blocks and framework to suit the needs of the children within these pathways.

Impact

By the time they leave our academies, children will:

• Love reading!
• Read a variety of texts
• Read regularly
• Read for pleasure and information
• Read independently with sustained concentration
• Talk about texts and record their understanding in a variety of ways
• Engage with ideas, information and themes in texts
• Express preferences about texts they have read

Children will leave TVEd competent and confident readers who have developed a lifelong passion for reading.  They will have been given the opportunity to be exposed to a range of texts and understand the different purposes of reading and the benefits to their lives.  By learning to read our children will be able to read to learn!

What is it?

• A competition across our whole trust, to find our favourite book written in the last year
• A chance to discover a new writer, or discover a whole new world through a book
• Learn about how writers get their ideas by talking to them and sending messages
• Win competitions, and represent school in the trust awards
• Vote for your favourite book!

Our Aims

• Exposure to a greater range of contemporary texts and authors
• Promotion of reading for pleasure as a school/trust focus
• Giving children opportunity to question the writing process, using collaborative ICT applications
• Chance to meet inspirational authors, and show success can be achieved
• Through reading a diverse range of genre, vocabulary, structure and narrative form can be magpie into students own writing.
• Chance to develop links/competition between schools in the trust.
• Staff awareness of authorial techniques and potential texts to use in class extended.
• Awards ceremony provides a chance to promote the work of the trust.

2024 Book Award