During your child’s time at Eastnor Primary School, we aim to give them the experience of a wide range of books and develop a lifelong love of reading. We have embedded a very successful - and popular - core text approach in our English curriculum, which enables all of our children to be inspired and challenged each term. This is complemented by a wide range of other reading material, including non-fiction and poetry.

Core Texts at Eastnor Primary School

At the end of each term, every child in school is given a special gift bag to take home to share with their family. Inside each bag is a copy of the Core Text they will be using in their English lessons after the school holiday. The bag also has some resources to help bring the given text to life.

This special way of presenting each text means every child is excited and motivated to read. It also means that each Eastnor family becomes part of their child’s reading journey from the day they join us. Parents understand the importance of sharing each text with their child(ren), or encouraging them to read it independently, in preparation for the next term’s work.

This approach also ensures that children of all ages experience a variety of different texts and authors that encourage a wide breadth of reading opportunities.

Core Text Reading Spine

Class 1 – Mrs Harvey

Autumn – The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Spring - The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers

Summer - Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne

Class 2a and 2b - Miss Morris & Mr Marchant

Autumn - George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl (Cycle A) The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark by Jill Tomlinson (Cycle B)

Spring - Ossiri and the Bala Mengro (Cycle A) Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke (Cycle B)

Summer - The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith (Cycle A) Paddington by Michael Bond (Cycle B)

Class 3 - Mrs Tart

Autumn - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (Cycle A) The Railway Children by E Nesbit (Cycle B)

Spring - The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell (Cycle A) The Boy at the Back of the Class: by Onjali Rauf (Cycle B)

Summer – This Morning I Met a Whale by Michael Morpurgo (Cycle A) The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell (Cycle B)

Class 4 - Mrs Rambridge

Autumn - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Cycle A) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (Cycle B)

Spring - When Life Gives you Mangoes by Kereen Getten (Cycle A) The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier (Cycle B)

Summer - Skellig by David Almond (Cycle A) Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (Cycle B)

Being exposed to high level texts is crucial. Through reading, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge, and to build on what they already know. It also helps them to develop a rich understanding of language and vocabulary, which supports high-level comprehension skills and writing.