At our small rural school, reading is at the heart of everything we do. We want every child to develop a lifelong love of books and stories. We want children to become confident, fluent readers who read for both pleasure and purpose.

Our reading curriculum is carefully designed to ensure that all pupils make strong progress, whatever their starting point. Through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics programme, we provide a systematic, structured approach to the teaching of early reading. This ensures that children quickly develop the skills needed to decode words and gain confidence as independent readers.

As children move through the school, they are exposed to a wide range of high-quality texts that reflect both our local community and the wider world. We want our pupils to experience the joy of stories, poems, and non-fiction, and to use reading as a way to explore ideas, develop empathy, and expand their imagination.

Phonics is taught daily in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised scheme. Sessions are carefully planned to build on prior learning, with a clear progression of sounds and skills. Children are encouraged to apply their phonics knowledge in their reading and writing across the curriculum.

In addition to daily phonics, children take part in regular reading practice sessions, focusing on decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Books are carefully matched to each child’s phonics stage to ensure success and build confidence.
Throughout the school, children enjoy shared reading, story time, and guided reading sessions. We promote a love of reading through inviting book corners, access to our school library, and whole-school reading events such as World Book Day and family reading mornings.

The impact of our approach is seen in the enthusiasm and confidence our pupils show for reading. Children make excellent progress in phonics, with the vast majority achieving expected standards by the end of Year 1.

Teachers monitor progress closely and provide targeted support where needed, ensuring every child can thrive. Pupils talk passionately about the books they read, enjoy recommending stories to one another, and take pride in their reading achievements.

By the time they leave our school, pupils are fluent, motivated readers who see reading as an enjoyable and essential part of everyday life — ready to build on their skills and love of reading as they move on to the next stage of their education.

Our desire is to give our children as many opportunities as possible to read and write with a purpose. Our curriculum is designed to be engaging and relevant to all children. As a result, pupils engage in critical thinking, self-reflection, and deep engagement with their subject matter. Applying our school values, we provide the tools for pupils to give feedback constructively to their peers and also reflect on their own progress. 

We want to promote this idea through English by: -

- encouraging the excitement that comes from discovering our rich literary legacy, allowing children to grow and experiment

- applying a range of literary devices, ensuring that children write maturely and are aware of their audience

- encourage oracy in lessons for pupils to work with their peers, promoting a culture of collaboration

- engaging with learning in a variety of ways: speaking, acting, debate and discussion

- promoting children to enhance their writing and display our school value of perseverance

Our English curriculum is focused around different literary texts across the year. Across all phases, the Jane Considine writing approach is used. This focuses heavily on the metacognition of writing. Children 'chot' down their own ideas, a model text is provided by the teacher and then children have the confidence to apply these features to their own writing independently.

The class texts are used as a writing stimulus for pupils. Children unpick texts by often reading as a writer, analysing the grammatical features which are used. As a result, children then have the confidence to innovate their own ideas by looking back at high-quality texts. The purpose of texts are always a key focus when crafting independent writing and these follow a Writer's Toolkit which is then shared with all children. 

Across the academic year, children have the opportunity to analyse and write a range of texts: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. 

Vocabulary is a key focus in all year groups. Curriculum Maps are sent out on a half-termly basis which outline the key vocabulary for the half-term ahead. When opportunities arise, a cross-curricular approach is taken when appropriate. 

We are always happy to celebrate the impact of writing at Boxford Primary and the impact of our broad and balanced curriculum:

- we are delighted to share the SAT results from 2025 which were well-above National in all areas:

- school trips, promoting cultural capital, provide children with a writing stimulus (Mandeer, Wembley visit 2025)

- lessons are sequenced carefully and adaptations are made for all cohorts

- diversity is promoted through selected texts for all phases