Reading at Southview School

Southview School is unique in Essex as being the only PNI provision. Consequently, we have a wide range of ability throughout the school, from children working at early sensory levels, through to those able to read age appropriate literature, for whom we have developed a variety of opportunities to develop reading for pleasure. Reading is an integral part of what we do here, and each child will be nurtured and challenged to reach their full potential as they move through the school. We recognise that some of our children need an inclusive literacy programme, laid out in our PMLD curriculum, and others will follow a more ‘traditional’ route as laid out in our reading scale, which moves from dependence towards independence. At Southview, the functional use of reading is considered very important as pupils move through the school enabling them to live as independently as possible. Our children also face additional challenges with communication which can make learning to read phonetically difficult for them, and most use AAC as a support.