At Riverside Academy, we are passionate about ensuring that all children are provided with challenging and memorable learning opportunities that enable them to reach high standards in English. The 2014 National Curriculum is the foundation for our English curriculum which gives every child the best opportunities that we can provide, preparing children for their next steps in learning. We strive to improve the life chances for our children by setting high expectations and championing each individual’s aspirations making them lifelong readers, writers and speakers. We believe that reading is an essential part of the curriculum and strive for our children to have a genuine love of reading.  

Reading at Riverside

We believe that it is vital that all children become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are essential skills for reading and writing in all subjects. 

At Riverside Academy, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.  

Our children will enjoy recording their learning through carefully-planned written activities and will be able to apply ideas from their reading into a range of interesting and effective pieces of written work across the curriculum.