The Reading Spine is a central element of our curriculum, designed to promote PSHE, British Values, and SMSC, while meeting the diverse needs of pupils with EHCPs in our SEMH special school. Each carefully selected text is aligned with the Jigsaw PSHE themes, providing meaningful opportunities for pupils to explore concepts such as identity, empathy, resilience, and relationships through engaging and purposeful narratives.

You can view our full Reading Spine document by here.

The Reading Spine reflects a broad range of protected characteristics, enabling pupils to develop understanding, respect, and tolerance of diversity. Through these stories, pupils encounter and engage with the British Values of mutual respect, tolerance, individual liberty, democracy, and the rule of law in meaningful and age-appropriate ways.

In addition, the Reading Spine supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development by encouraging self-reflection, ethical thinking, empathy, and cultural awareness. For pupils with SEMH needs, familiar and high-quality texts offer a safe and structured framework for exploring complex themes, building emotional literacy, language development, and social interaction. This approach ensures that reading is both a powerful educational tool and a vehicle for personal growth and inclusion.