Shared Reading at St. Andrew's Church of England Primary School

Our shared reading curriculum is built around a carefully sequenced range of high-quality, age appropriate texts using Literacy Counts’ Ready Steady Read Together units of learning. This resource provides dynamic and inclusive lessons that incorporate metacognitive strategies and showcase diverse literature from a range of exceptional authors. It aims to inspire children and their families to develop a lifelong love of reading for pleasure, knowledge and information.

We intend that all pupils from Year 2 to Year 6, regardless of need, ability or background, have the opportunity to meet and where possible exceed the National Curriculum expectations for reading comprehension. Ready Steady Read Together ensures that every pupil has access to high quality texts, enabling them to experience rich literature that develops fluency, vocabulary and deep understanding.

Through explicit teacher modelling of expression, pace, intonation and prosody, children learn how skilled readers bring meaning to a text and how these features support comprehension. Shared reading also provides regular opportunities for discussion, questioning, drama and exploration of language. These approaches deepen comprehension while strengthening oracy skills.

Crucially, our shared reading curriculum ensures that every child, regardless of their decoding ability, can access ambitious texts, engage meaningfully with literature and develop the habit of reading widely and often for both pleasure and learning.

Please see our Shared Reading Policy for further information to find out about the intent, implementation and impact.

Wider Reading Suggestions

Below you will find links to suggested wider reading opportunities. These texts are linked to each of our Ready Steady Write Vehicle Texts. Reading texts from these lists will introduce children to diverse perspectives, inclusive characters, non-fiction, poetry, and graphic novels they might not pick on their own.

Family Library Mornings - Summer 2026

As we are continuing on through the National Year of Reading 2026, we really enjoyed opening our school library to our families on various dates throughout the Summer term. We thoroughly enjoyed you all joining us to enjoy our renovated school library together, and really foster the 'reading for pleasure' campaign, alongside your child, which is so important to us all right now.

We look forward to opening up our library to families again soon - details to follow.

World Book Day March 2026

Please see our Instagram page to look back on a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day 2026. Thank you once again to author Sophie Melia for her visit and sharing her novel with us - What if? The story of little Asad. 

Please see our Instagram page for our World Book Day 2026 pictures.

World Book Day 2027 takes place on Thursday, 4 March 2027 - we are already excited!

Tips to help you engage your child in reading (links from The National Literacy Trust)

1. If your child is a reluctant reader, you can use your child's hobbies and interests to find books that are more likely to hold their attention.
2. Learn how to spend time sharing stories together. You don’t always need to read the words in books. Looking at and talking about picture books is a great way to encourage your child to enjoy stories.
3. If your child doesn't like books, you can also explore ways to get your child interested in stories by diving into the world of comic books or our list of audio books for teenagers.
4. Discover how to help your child learn to choose books that they like.
5. Try visiting the library to help your child try reading different books.
6. Don't worry if your child only wants to read one book over and over.
7. Find out how you can set a reading example for your child.
8. Learn how to build reading routines into your day to day.
9. Bring familiar stories to life with play. Act out a story you both know well to make reading feel more fun.
10. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to build in reading time, or your child to enjoy reading. Just take it one moment at a time.