We want Houghton Regis Primary School to be a place where children are read to, enjoy listening to high-quality books and share their enjoyment of stories through discussion.
Our ‘Reading Spine’ is one element of the approach we take to foster a love for reading in our children. The spine is a core of books that create a living library inside our children’s minds. It is a store of classic stories and essential reads that help our children engage at a deeper level and enter the world of the story. We have produced our very own ‘Reading Spine’ for every year group, giving children access to these high-quality texts.
Teachers have carefully chosen a selection of books that sit at the very core of the curriculum for their own year group. The books sometimes link to our topics but not always. They are shared with all the children in different ways – they may be read to the children, used a stimulus for writing in English lessons or as a guided reader whereby children read and respond to them in a small group.
Imagine a primary school where, over seven or eight years, children are read to, enjoy, discuss and work with a core of around 80 books. These ‘essential reads’ would be a store of classics, creating a living library inside a child’s mind. This is the ‘reading spine’. Schools that have a reading spine build a common bank of stories that bind the community together.” Pie Corbett, Literacy expert
Click on the documents below to see the ‘Reading Spine’ for each of our Year Groups:
