Reading Programme

Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.  

Please see below a detailed explanation of the Reading Programme that is implemented at Morpeth Road Academy

Reading is a priority at Morpeth Road Academy and we feel it’s a fundamental right for our children to learn to read and comprehend what they have read by the time they leave our school. Our children come in below the national average and so we have a strong, embedded curriculum to ensure our children are caught up.This starts in EYFS with the use of nursery rhymes, picture books and launchpad. RWI continues this for our children and more children are passing the phonics screeners than ever before. At the end of KS1/beginning of KS2 children begin to access phonics to fluency which develops into comprehension lessons. Alongside this, we use Accelerated Reader as our reading tiered system of regular reading with children from Y2-6 and our encouragement of reading for pleasure and parental engagement supplement our approach. Reading Plus is used in school for our Y4-6 pupils. This programme provides personalised practice designed to help children build and strengthen the visual skills needed for reading. Its adaptive instruction ensures that pupils receive further support exactly when they need it, while also providing teachers with clear information to help them focus their in-class support on the specific areas each child needs most.

A KS2 reading lesson typically begins with whole-class teaching, where the teacher introduces or revises the focus skill, strategy, or stems. The teacher reads aloud to model fluency and prosody while pupils follow the text, using think-alouds with displayed text to demonstrate key skills. New vocabulary and strategies for tackling and unpicking questions are explicitly taught, and attention is drawn to relevant grammar conventions or language techniques that may support pupils’ writing. Pupils then practise the skill through partner work in mixed-ability groups, with the bottom 20% receiving additional adult support or a scaffolded task where needed. This is followed by an independent or linked activity, where pupils read independently or with a partner, focus on specific skills, and record responses or complete tasks, while the teacher or teaching assistant circulates to support, extend learning, or work with targeted groups. The lesson concludes with a plenary that celebrates effective use of the skills, provides a snapshot of learning, revisits tricky vocabulary or explores synonyms, and encourages pupils to evaluate their use of learning behaviours and stems.