During Early Years our pupils learn to distinguish sounds in their natural environment. Next they learn the sounds of letters in text (phonics). Then they learn to read and understand simple words and sentences. Pupils use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. Pupils also read some common irregular words.

Pupils will learn to segment, blend and begin to read with fluency and automaticity. Pupils will become familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their characteristics. Pupils will begin to understand what they have read.

Pupils will develop their fluency and automaticity. Pupils will read without overtly segmenting and blending. Pupils will listen to, discuss and begin to express views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction. Pupils will comprehend what they have read by answering questions, drawing inference and justifying such inferences with evidence.

Pupils will maintain a positive attitude for and love of reading by reading and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks (including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions). Pupils will continue to explore books that are structured in different ways, read for different purpose, recommend texts to peers and make comparisons between books. Pupils will show secure understanding of what they have read and provide reasoned justification for their own views.  

Pupils read and understand simple sentences

Pupils use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately.

Pupils also read some common irregular words.

Pupils entering Year 1 who have not yet met the Early Learning Goals for literacy should continue to follow their school’s curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage to develop their word reading, spelling and language skills.

Revise and consolidate GPC’s taught in Reception.

Revise and consolidate the Common Exception Words taught in Reception.

Support pupils whose oral language/ blending skills are undeveloped.

Sound and blend unfamiliar words quickly.

Continue to learn new GPC’s.

Respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes for all 40+ phonemes, including alternative sounds for graphemes.

Read Y1 Common Exception Words.

Blend new sounds into words and applying to new words.

Read books aloud with consistent phonic knowledge.

Hear, share and discuss wide range of high quality books to develop love of reading and broaden vocabulary.

Read words of more than one syllable (containing GPC’s)

Suffixes (-s, -es, -ing,-ed, -est, -er)

Contractions (I’m, I’’, We’ll)

Read 100 confidently Year 1 High Frequency Words, progressing onto the next 200 High Frequency Words.

Read all Year 1 common graphemes.

Read confidently Year 1 High Frequency Words.

Securely read all Year 1 Common Exception Words.

Continue to apply phonic knowledge/ skills to decode words until automatic decoding.

Blending sounds in words and recognising alternative sounds for graphemes.

Read accurately words with 2+ syllables.

Read words with common suffixes.

Read further (Y2 64) Common Exception Words, noticing unusual correspondences graphemes- sounds).

Read most Year 2 High Frequency Words quickly and accurately.

Read aloud books closely matched to phonic knowledge- sounding out new words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation.

Pupils are taught how to select own books and are doing so regularly.

As soon as pupils can read words containing Year 2 GPC’s- should move onto Year 3/Year 4 Word Reading Programme of Study.

Read words at a speed that is sufficient to focus on understanding rather than decoding individual words.

Decode most new words making a good approximation at pronunciation.

Demonstrate an understanding of figurative language.

Use age appropriate, academic vocabulary.

Apply growing knowledge of root words/prefixes/suffixes (etymology/morphology)

Read further Common Exception Words (Year 3)

Be supported to test out new pronunciations for longer words.

Beginning of Y5- pupils should read aloud a wider range of poetry and books at an age-appropriate interest level with accuracy and reasonable speaking pace.

Read most words effortlessly.

Work out how to pronounce unfamiliar words with increasing automaticity.

Ask for help to determine meaning and pronunciations of new words.

Accurate reading of individual words, focusing on all letters in unfamiliar words.

Read with appropriate intonation.

Apply growing knowledge of root words, prefixes, suffixes (morphology/etymology) to read aloud and understand meanings of new words. Pupils need to apply this knowledge/ skill so that by the end of Year Six, pupils can:

Understand, learn, read confidently and explain new vocabulary and meanings, across a wide range of subjects.

Understand nuances in vocabulary choice and age-appropriate academic vocabulary, by consolidation, practice and discussion of language.

Stage 2 Tricky Words

I, no, go, to, the, into.

Stage 3 Tricky Words

he, she, we, me, be, you, are, her, was, all, they, my.

Stage 4 Tricky Words

said, have, like, so, do, some, come, little, one, were, there, what, when, out.

Stage 5 Tricky Words

oh, Mrs, people, their, called, Mr, looked, asked, could.

Common Irregular Words

go, come, went, up, you, day, was, look, are, the, of, we, this, dog, me, like, going, big, she, and, they, my, see, on, away, mum, it, at, play, no, yes, for, can, he, am, all, is, dad, cat, said, get, to, in, and, I.

Y1 40+ Phonemes

s, ss, c (city), a, t, tt, ed, p, pp, I, y, n, nn, b, bb, k, c, ck, f, ff, ph, g, gg, h, j, g, dg, l, ll, m, mm, r, rr, v, w, y, z, zz, s, se, ze, sh, s, ss, t (tion, tial), ch, tch, th, th, ng, n (kn), e, ea, o, a (was), u, o, o-e, ai, ay, a-e, ee, ea, e, ie, ear, eer, ere,  igh, ie, y, i-e, I, oa, ow, o, oe, o-e, oo, ew, ue, u-e, oo, u, ar, a, or, aw, au, ore, al, ur, er, ir, or (after w), ow, ou, oi, oy, air, are, ear, ure, zh (before ion, ure).

Y1 Common Exception Words

a, are, ask, be, by, come, do, friend, full, go, has, he, here, his, house, I, is, love, me, my, no, of, once, one, our, pull, push, put, said, says, school, she, so, some, the, there, they, to, today, was, we, were, where, you, your.

Y1 High Frequency Words

a, an, as, at, if, in, is, it, of, off, on, can, dad, had, back, and, get, big, him, his, go, not, got, up, mum, but, put, the, to, I, no, into, will, that, this, then, them, with, see, for, now, down, look, too, he, she, we, me, be, was, you, they, all, are, my, her, went, it’s, from, children, just, help, said, have, like, so, do, some, come, were, there, little, one, when, out, what, don’t, old, I’m, by, time, house, about, your, day, made, came, make, here, saw, very, oh, their, people, Mr, Mrs, looked, called, asked, could.

Y2 GPC’s/Suffixes/Contractions/Homophones

ge, dge, c (race), kn, gn, wr, le, el, al, il, es, ed, ing, er, est, y, all, al, o (mother), ey, wa (want), qua (quantity), wo (word), wa (war), -ment, -ness, -ful, -less, -ly, n’t, sn’t, t’s, ‘ll (I’ll), ‘s, -tion, their/there/they’re, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, sun/son, to/too, be/bee, blue/blew, night/knight.

Y2 Common Exception Words

after, again, any, bath, beautiful, because, behind, both, break, busy, child, children, Christmas, class, climb, clothes, could, cold, door, even, every, everybody, eye, fast, father, find, floor, gold, grass, great, half, hold, hour, improve, kind, last, many, mind, money, most, move, Mr, Mrs, old, only, parents, pass, past, path, people, plant, poor, pretty, prove, should, steak, sugar, sure, told, water, whole, who, wild, would.

Y2 High Frequency Words

water, how, away, good, want, over, how, did, man, going, where

would, or, took, school, think, home, who, didn’t, ran, know, bear, can’t, again, cat, long, things, new, after, wanted, eat, everyone, our, two, has, yes, play, take, thought, dog, well, find, more, I’ll, round, tree, magic, shouted, us, other, food, fox, though, way, been, stop, must, red, door, right, sea, these, began, boy, animals, never, next, first, work, lots, need, that’s, baby, fish, gave, mouse, something, bed, may, still, found, live, say, soon, night, narrator, small, car, couldn’t, three, head, king, town, I’ve, around, every, garden, fast, only, many, laughed, let’s, much, suddenly, told, another, great, why, cried, keep, room, last, jumped, because, even, am, before, gran, clothes, tell, key, fun, place, mother, sat, boat, window, sleep, feet, morning, queen, each, book, its, green, different, let, girl, which, inside, run, any, under, hat, snow, air, trees, bad, tea, top, eyes, fell, friends, box, dark, grandad, there’s, looking, end, than, best, better, hot, sun, across, gone, hard, floppy, really, wind, wish, eggs, once, please, thing, stopped, ever, miss, most, cold, park, lived, birds, duck, horse, rabbit, white, coming, he’s, river, liked, giant, looks, use, along, plants, dragon, pulled, we’re, fly, grow.

Y3/ Y4 Root Words/ Prefixes/ Suffixes

y (myth, gym, Egypt, pyramid, mystery), ou (young, touch), in-, un-, dis-, mis-, il-, im-, ir-, re-, sub-, inter-, super-, anti-, auto-, -ation, -ly, -ure, -ture, -er, -sion, -ous, -tion, -ssion, -cion, ch (scheme, chorus), ch (chef, chalet), g (tongue), sc (science), ei, eigh, ey.

Y3/ Y4 Common Exception Words

accident/ accidentally, actual/ actually, address, answer, appear, arrive, believe, bicycle, breath, breathe, build, busy/business, calendar, caught, centre, century, certain, circle, complete, consider, continue, decide, describe, different, difficult, disappear, early, earth, eight/eighth, enough, exercise, experience, experiment, extreme, famous, favourite, February, forward (s), fruit, grammar, group, guard, guide, heard, heart, height, history, imagine, increase, important, interest, island, knowledge, learn, length, library, material, medicine, mention, minute, natural, naughty, notice, occasion/ occasionally, often, opposite, ordinary, particular, peculiar, perhaps, popular, position, possess/possession, possible, potatoes, pressure, probably, promise, purpose, quarter, question, recent, regular, reign, remember, sentence, separate, special, straight, strange, strength, suppose, surprise.

Y5/Y6 Suffixes/ Silent Letters/Hyphens/Homophones

cious, -tious, -cial, -tial, -ant, -ance/ancy, -ent, -ence/-ency, -able, -ible, -ably, -ibly, -fer. Hyphens. Ei after c, ough, silent letters (kn, gh, ch), -ce/-se (advice/advise), device/devise, licence/license, practice/practise, prophecy/prophesy, father/farther/further, guessed/guest, heard/herd, led/lead/lead, morning/mourning, past/past/passed, precede/proceed, principle/principle, profit/prophet, stationary/stationery, steel/steal, wary/weary, who’s/whose.

 Y5/ Y6 Common Exception Words 

accommodate, accompany, according, achieve, aggressive, amateur, ancient, apparent, appreciate, attached, available, average, awkward, bargain, bruise, category, cemetery, committee, communicate, community, competition, conscience, conscious, controversy, convenience, correspond, criticise, curiosity, definite, desperate, determined, develop, dictionary, disastrous, embarrass, environment, equip/-ped/-ment, especially, exaggerate, excellent, existence, explanation, familiar, foreign, forty, frequently, government, guarantee, harass, hindrance, identity, immediate(ly), individual, interfere, interrupt, language, leisure, lightning, marvellous, mischievous, muscle, necessary, neighbour, occupy, occur, opportunity, parliament, persuade, physical, prejudice, privilege, profession, programme, pronunciation, queue, recognise, recommend, relevant, restaurant, rhyme, rhythm, sacrifice, secretary, shoulder, signature, sincere(ly), soldier, stomach, sufficient, suggest, symbol, system, temperature, thorough, twelfth, variety, vegetable, vehicle, yacht

This involves encouraging pupils to read and write, both through listening to others reading, and being encouraged to begin to read and write themselves. Pupils must be given access to a wide range of reading materials such as books, poems, and other written materials to ignite their interest.

ELG 09 Reading:

Children read and understand simple sentences.

They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately

They also read some common irregular words

They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read

Experience and listen to/discuss a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction beyond the pupils independent reading level.

Opportunities for role play to allow pupils to identify with characters/ language in a text.

Link reading to own experiences.

To become familiar with key/ fairy/ traditional stories and tales.

Recognising and joining in with predictable phrases.

Appreciate rhymes and poems.

Recite some rhymes and poems by heart.

Discuss and link word meanings to prior knowledge.

Pupils to have new vocabulary introduced before reading texts.

To discuss/ draw on background knowledge/ prior knowledge and vocabulary.

Checking text as reading and correcting inaccurate reading.

Discussing the significance of the title and events in texts.

Making inferences based on what is said/done.

Predicting what may happen next in a text.

Discussing what has been read by turn taking and showing listening skills.

Articulating in full sentences what is happening in a text.

Pupils to be shown processes for finding out information from non-fiction texts.

Pupils should be able to retell some familiar stories that have been read to them/read independently/acted out in Year 1.

Building on from Year 1, pupils should continue to have familiarity with a wide range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales.

Continuing from Year 1, pupils should enhance their repertoire of poems learnt by heart, reciting with appropriate intonation.

Continue to have opportunities for role play and drama so that pupils can identify with and explore characters.

Focus on establishing accurate and speedy word reading skills.

Pupils listen to and discuss a wide range of contemporary and classic stories, poems, plays and information books.

Pupils listen to and read whole books.

Through teacher modelled “Reciprocal Teaching”, teachers model “Thinking aloud” to help pupils understand what skilled readers do.

Pupils should be guided to participate in discussions and receive feedback on their discussions.

Participate in discussions about texts, listen and turn take.

Answer and ask questions in full sentences.

Discuss sequence of events/how information is related in books.

Be introduced to various structures of non-fiction texts.

Recognise simple recurring literacy language.

Link new vocabulary and meanings to known vocabulary (etymology and morphology).

Discuss favourite words and phrases.

Draw on prior knowledge/ background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher.

Check the text whilst reading and begin to correct inaccurate reading.

Make inferences based on what is said and done.

Predict what may happen in the text based on previous reading.

Explain and discuss the understanding of books listened to and books read independently, using full sentences to justify opinions.

Pupils should learn about cause and effect for narrative and non-fiction and be able to discuss and reason in full sentences.

Beginning of Year 3, pupils should be able to read books written at an age interest appropriate level. The books should be read accurately and at a speed sufficient for understanding rather than decoding.

Continue to increase their familiarity with a wide range of books, including fairy stories, myths and legends, and retelling some of these orally.

Pupils should continue to have opportunities to listen frequently to stories, poems, non-fiction and other writing, including whole books and not just extracts, so that they build on what was taught previously. In this way, they also meet books and authors that they might not choose themselves. Pupils should also have opportunities to exercise choice in selecting books and be taught how to do so, with teachers making use of any library services and expertise to support this.

Teaching should be directed towards developing vocabulary and the breadth and depth of reading.

With support at the beginning of Year 3- becoming increasingly independent by the end of Year 4, pupils should be able to justify opinions about what they have read.

Pupils should become more familiar with and confident in using language in a greater variety of situations for a range of audiences/ purposes, through drama, formal presentations and debates, preparing poems and play scripts to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action.

Listen to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks.

Read books that are structured in different ways and read for a range of purposes, identifying themes and conventions in a wide range of books. Retrieve and record information from non-fiction.

In using non-fiction, pupils should know what information they need to look for before they begin and be clear about the task. They should be shown how to use contents pages and indexes to locate information.

Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that they have read.

Recognise some different forms of poetry [for example, free verse, narrative poetry].

Checking that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding, and explaining the meaning of words in context.

Pupils should have guidance about the kinds of explanations and questions that are expected from them. They should help to develop, agree on, and evaluate rules for effective discussion. The expectation should be that all pupils take part.

Asking questions to improve their understanding of a text.

Drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence.

Predicting what might happen from details stated and implied

Identifying main ideas drawn from more than 1 paragraph and summarising these.

Identifying how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning.

Participate in discussion about both books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say.

Pupils should be taught to recognise themes in what they read, such as the triumph of good over evil or the use of magical devices in fairy stories and folk tales.

Learning a wider range of poetry by heart.

By the beginning of year 5, pupils should be able to read aloud a wider range of poetry and books written at an age-appropriate interest level with accuracy and at a reasonable speaking pace.

Continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks.

Pupils should be able to read most words effortlessly and to work out how to pronounce unfamiliar written words with increasing automaticity.

Increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions.

Reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes.

If the pronunciation sounds unfamiliar, they should ask for help in determining both the meaning of the word and how to pronounce it correctly.

They should be able to prepare readings, with appropriate intonation to show their understanding, and should be able to summarise and present a familiar story in their own words.

They should be reading widely and frequently, outside as well as in school, for pleasure and information.

Recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices.

Identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing.

They should be able to read silently, with good understanding, inferring the meanings of unfamiliar words, and then discuss what they have read.

During years 5 and 6, teachers should continue to emphasise pupils’ enjoyment and understanding of language, especially vocabulary, to support their reading and writing. Pupils’ knowledge of language, gained from stories, plays, poetry, non-fiction and textbooks, will support their increasing fluency as readers, their facility as writers, and their comprehension.

Pupils should understand nuances in vocabulary choice and age-appropriate, academic vocabulary. This involves consolidation, practice and discussion of language.

Making comparisons within and across books.

Checking that the book makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context.

Asking questions to improve their understanding.

Drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence.

Predicting what might happen from details stated and implied

Summarising the main ideas drawn from more than 1 paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas.

Identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.

Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.

In years 5 and 6, pupils’ confidence, enjoyment and mastery of language should be extended through public speaking, performance and debate. Distinguish between statements of fact and opinion.

Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.

Participate in discussions about books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, building on their own and others’ ideas and challenging views courteously.

Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, including through formal presentations and debates, maintaining a focus on the topic and using notes where necessary.

Provide reasoned justifications for their views.