Reading and Phonics at Hope Brook

At Hope Brook the teaching of phonics and reading is prioritised, especially in Reception. Throughout the school we aim to foster a love of reading by developing a culture of books, vocabulary and reading.

In our school our approach to teaching reading is varied: the children are involved in regular guided reading sessions where the text is discussed and children’s understanding checked, phonic groups, and hearing children read individually. We also have home/school reading record books and we encourage parents to support their children’s reading at home. Our expectation is that parents read with their children most days of the week.

Phonics Scheme

We use Unlocking Letters and Sounds to teach phonics which was validated by the DfE in December 2021.

We begin teaching phonics in the first few weeks of term 1 in Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey. Children begin to learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘Common Exception’ words for Phases 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. Children leave Reception being able to apply the phonemes taught within Phase 2, 3 and 4.

In Year 1 through Phase 5a, b and c, they learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1 children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1 all children are screened using the national Phonics Screening Check.

In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps.

To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to keep up through bespoke 1-1 interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure these interventions have an impact.

Reading Scheme

At Hope Brook we promote a 'phonics first' approach and in both our guided reading sessions at school and in the books children take home, texts are very closely matched to a child's current phonics knowledge so that every child can experience real success in their reading.

In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books from Ransom Reading Stars Phonics or Oxford Reading Tree, to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression we follow. Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto our colour coded book scheme so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.

Reading in School

Whole Class Reading:

Whole class reading at Hope Brook means the whole class share the experience of a text. The children read, discuss and answer questions based on the one text. It is often these texts that are used as our models for writing.

Guided Reading:

During guided reading, the children are grouped according to their reading ability. The groups are usually about 5/6 children and the session is led by an adult member of the teaching team. The main focus of these sessions is reading comprehension.

Independent Reading:

Our children are given independent reading opportunities everyday. During this time, children experience a wide range of reading opportunities. They have opportunities to read fiction and non-fiction books, newspapers, magazines, poetry and plays. They might be reading the book used for their guided reading sessions or they might be reading a book chosen from the class library.

Reading Journals:

The children at Hope Brook record their reading experiences in a reading journal. The purpose of our reading journals is to: