'All individuals matter' 

At Winchelsea Primary School, our intent is that every child at Winchelsea, regardless of background or starting point, has access to high-quality teaching and high-quality texts. We believe that success in reading is essential and has a direct effect on progress in all areas of the curriculum. Reading opens the doorway to children understanding and accessing the wider world enabling them to encounter and understand better different cultures and times.

We believe that a love of reading also aids mental health, develops creativity and can develop confidence in their own self. It unlocks a child’s potential and enables life-long learning. We strive to equip pupils with the knowledge and culture capital needed to succeed in life. This means that we choose texts that will enrich their understanding of the world. Texts are carefully chosen to allow children a broader experience and understanding of races and religions that are not strongly represented in our local area. We also strive to teach texts from classic British authors. This rich range of material, we hope, enables Winchelsea children to be educated citizens with an appreciation of human creativity and achievement across all walks of life.

We strive to teach children how to decode, read, understand and love the written word, both through direct teaching and through all areas of the curriculum, in a variety of ways. Children are given the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of high-quality texts and real purposes for reading to practise and embed their reading skills.