To support the National Curriculum for English we follow a mastery approach to reading through the programme Pathways to Read. The programme is designed to equip pupils from Year 2 onwards with key skills to move them through the reading process towards becoming competent and fluent readers. Clear, detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to high-quality texts. Pathways to Read ensures engaging and purposeful reading lessons.

An Overview of Pathways to Read

Reading is a skill which underpins all areas of learning and so it is our intent that all children will leave St Matthew's as confident, fluent and independent readers. Through reading, our children will be prepared for future study and later life so they can be confident, successful and fulfilled. We strive to give our children a real sense of ‘reading for pleasure, enjoyment and meaning’ by making our learning environments rich in language and vocabulary. 

Following the Pathways to Read methodology, in Years 2-6, we use the following teaching sequence:

• Whole class shared reading
• Grouped reading session
• Follow on task

Our pupils will develop a lifelong love of reading and become passionate about reading. 

Through the specific teaching of reading skills, we support children and their reading journeys so that they

can decode, understand and discuss texts fully. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.

Here is a selection of just some of the high-quality texts we will be reading in each year group...

Pathways to Read follows a mastery approach to learning with three categories of skills developed each half term:

• Ongoing skills - linked to text choices and achieved through selection of teaching activities
• Core skills - prediction, vocabulary development and retrieval
• Mastery skills - 2-3 objectives are focused on for pupils to master over the course of the half-term

Each Pathways to Read unit consists of six whole class reading sessions following the four-part structure:

- Predict

- Clarify vocabulary

- Read and retrieve

- Read and explain

The core elements of each session are prediction, developing pupils' vocabulary and retrieval. The 'Read and explain' part of the lesson is the mastery focus for the majority of sessions.

Grouped reading sessions follow each whole class session with a mastery focus, with a specific focus on the mastery learning and providing pupils with the opportunity for discussion in smaller groups with an adult. Follow on activities are provided following each grouped session for pupils to complete independently.