English - Reading

At our school, we use the CUSP Writing, Reading, and Spelling curriculum from Years 1 to 6 to ensure a consistent, high-quality approach to English across all year groups. CUSP (Curriculum with Unity Schools Partnership) is a structured and evidence-informed programme that carefully sequences learning to build knowledge, vocabulary, and skills progressively over time.

Reading

CUSP Reading has been purposefully built around the principles of evidence-led practice. The curriculum is built on three key foundations: explicit vocabulary instruction; explicit fluency instruction (prosodic reading) and opportunities to think hard. Every unit follows a clear and progressive sequence that immerses pupils meaningfully in rich and demanding texts that have been carefully curated. Pupils have the opportunity throughout the Primary journey to experience a wide range of literature, as well as studying extended texts in full. This ensures both breadth and depth in their reading diet. 

CUSP Reading Blocks:

Every year group has 18 blocks of Reading, each lasting 2 weeks. This means that some texts will be read in just one 2-week block, for example shorter picture books. Other books, such as extended novels, may be read over more than one 2-week block. The structure of a CUSP Reading lesson has been carefully designed to ensure that pupils receive a coherent, balanced and meaningful reading experience in every block. While the CUSP Reading curriculum is rooted in children reading whole, high-quality texts, we also recognise the importance of reading broadly so that pupils have the knowledge and skills to access reading in the wider curriculum. While it is impossible to isolate individual reading competencies, each day has been designed to target key competencies in the way that pupils respond to what they have read. The Key Stage 2 structure is outlined below: 

1. On day 1 of each block of Reading, pupils will read the core text. This is the book that pupils are studying. The first days always designed to encourage pupils to summarise, compare and predict. 
2. Every day of the sequence includes explicit vocabulary instruction and an opportunity to develop pupils’ reading fluency through our prosodic reading strategies. This includes low stakes timed exercises on day 3 of each week to gradually build pupils’ pace and stamina over time. 
3. The first week of each block is designed to help pupils understand the detail of the text. The second week of each block is designed to help pupils think deeply about the texts. 
4. On days 2 and 3 of each week of the sequence, pupils will read supplementary texts that have been deliberately written to connect to the core text. This provides breadth and background knowledge. 
5. On the fourth day of each week, pupils will read one of the supplementary texts alongside the core text. This helps them to make connections and build strong schemas about what they have read. 
6. The fifth day of each week encourages pupils to develop their own personal responses to what they have read, exploring key themes and literary styles. 

The Key Stage 1 structure is built on the same principles as Key Stage 2. Pupils still read a core text and additional supplementary texts. Explicit vocabulary instruction, reading fluency and thinking hard are the same key pillars of the Key Stage 1 curriculum. Pupils focus first on understanding the detail of the text before moving into thinking hard about what they have read. 

The key difference is in timetabling. We know that a strong and robust phonics curriculum is an essential part of excellent reading provision. To ensure that we have sufficient time to deliver this, the CUSP offer for Reading and Writing is based on one 50-minute English lesson per day, with daily phonics teaching in addition to this. 

Over a 2-week period, pupils studying the CUSP Reading curriculum have 5 Reading lessons and 5 Writing lessons. Pupils still write at sentence level in their Reading lessons and read in every Writing lesson. The balance across the term ensures that pupils have time to engage deeply with high-quality reading and writing experiences. 

CUSP Big Ideas:

“Big ideas are not taught directly but are built from small ideas linked together. They are sometimes described as ‘powerful’ because they have greater explanatory power in helping learners to understand the world.

Wynne Harlen, Impact Magazine – Chartered College of Teaching, 2017

The CUSP curriculum is underpinned by a series of big ideas. These are key concepts that are not taught in isolation but, instead, have been deliberately and intricately woven into the warp and weft of the whole curriculum. We selected the big ideas that we believe are crucial for children living in modern Britain and beyond to make sense of.

In the CUSP Reading curriculum, these big ideas are used as a golden thread to weave throughout the offer so that pupils can make connections between what they are reading and their wider understanding of the world around them. 

Further details about each big idea and where it can be found in the literature spine and beyond are available from the English Leader. 

The Progression of Core Competencies is designed to outline the journey through the CUSP Reading curriculum and what pupils should know and be able to do as they progress through this. These competencies have been mapped into the CUSP Reading offer, with multiple opportunities to revisit them so that pupils become fluent, confident readers. Example below:

The core competencies are:

1.      Language meaning

2.      Retrieving key details

3.      Summarising, reframing and performance

4.      Making meaning

5.      Thematic and structural understanding

6.      Authorial intent

7.      Comparison and connection

8.      Reading behaviours

9.      Personal response

Long-term sequences:

CUSP Primary Reading Long Term Sequence 

Teaching and Learning: 

In CUSP Reading, Knowledge Notes are used to support teachers and pupils to navigate the instructional phases of the lesson. Teachers use them as a locational cue to support pupils in understanding which phase of the lesson they are in. 

• In the Example phase, the teacher models responding to the question, demonstrating their thinking through Thinking Talk. 
• In the Attempt phase, the teacher guides pupils through responding to the same type of question by applying the modelled strategy from the previous example. 
• The Apply task utilises the same competency but with a change to the question framework to promote conceptual fluency – the ability to apply the same knowledge and understanding in different forms. 
• The Challenge task is for all pupils and is designed to promote deep thinking about what pupils have read. This will also be rooted in the same core competency as the rest of the lesson. Many teachers use this as a fantastic opportunity to promote oracy and high-quality discussion. 

CUSP Reading Sample Knowledge Note