Reading Schemes: Primary School Guide

What are Reading Schemes?

Reading schemes are a structured series of books designed to support children's reading development. Popular schemes include Oxford Reading Tree, Rigby Star and Collins Big Cat. Books are organised into levels or bands that increase in difficulty as the child's skills improve.

Structure and Content of Reading Schemes

1. Books are typically organised into colour coded bands on numbered levels.

2. A range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

3. Some books link with phonics schemes to support early reading development.

4. Some schemes offer interactive eBooks and digital resources to complement physical books.

5. Extended support for pupils. Some schemes span from Early Years right through the primary age range. Some schemes also have hi-lo books, for older pupils who have a low reading age.

Some schools use one scheme to a certain point and then children become free reader. Other schools combine multiple schemes. There are some schools who have moved away from reading schemes and use their own methods.

Reading Schemes and Pageticker

1. Pageticker our online reading record, is aligned to a number of reading schemes, which teachers can select.

2. This helps teachers to see at a glance the colour band that the book belongs to, even if it isn't immediately obvious.

3. This can help teachers by providing suggestions of next books to assign and recommend.

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