We follow the CUSP curriculum for reading lessons in Years 1-6.

In KS1, children complete five reading lessons every fortnight, alternating with writing. Lessons are weighted more towards retrieval, summarising, predicting and sequencing with some focus on inference. These lessons are in addition to daily phonics / spelling teaching.

In KS2, children complete four reading lessons weekly. Three lessons per week focus on a core text from the CUSP literature spine, with an additional weekly lesson based on bespoke, supplementary texts designed to expand children’s understanding of the core text while allowing them to read widely across different fields. The curriculum balances the study of extended novels with the development of disciplinary reading in different forms.

Each week of lessons focuses on vocabulary acquisition as well as explicit fluency instruction, including timed practice and development of prosody. Early lessons in each sequence have a heavy retrieval, summary and predicting focus, with later lessons focusing on inference to ensure children understand the text fully before thinking more deeply about what they have read. 

CUSP Literature Spine

Lessons are structured around core texts which have been carefully selected to feature:

• Diverse literature
• Relevant social issues
• Big ethical questions
• Moral dilemmas
• Joyful literary experiences
• Agile and aspirational texts