Reading at Belmont
Intent
At Belmont, we aim to provide a high-quality English education where pupils learn to speak, read and write fluently to communicate effectively. Phonics is taught securely in EYFS and KS1, enabling pupils to access texts confidently. Reading is embedded across the curriculum as the key to lifelong learning, with all pupils reading widely across fiction and non-fiction to broaden knowledge, foster a love of reading, and build strong comprehension. By the end of KS2, pupils will read fluently and confidently in preparation for secondary school.
Implementation
We follow the Rocket Phonics programme, supported by Reading Planet books, ensuring books match phonics levels. Daily phonics is taught from EYFS, reinforced across the curriculum. Pupils access a wide range of genres, with book areas in every classroom to promote independence and reading for pleasure. Teachers monitor progress closely, encouraging varied and challenging reading choices.
We use the Literacy Tree Curriculum for whole-class reading and English, with high-quality texts chosen to model reading skills. Pupils are taught strategies to overcome barriers, make connections with prior knowledge, and develop deeper comprehension through guided and independent practice.
Impact
Our reading curriculum goes beyond assessments, aiming for pupils to become fluent, confident readers who love literature across genres and cultures. By Year 6, children will read with confidence and enjoyment, applying their skills across the curriculum and beyond. Parents are supported to help with reading at home, and progress is closely monitored to ensure ambitious targets are met, with no gaps between groups of pupils.
Phonics and Reading Schemes Used In EYFS and Key Stage 1
Phonics
What is phonics?
Phonics is a way of teaching children to read quickly and skilfully. They are taught how to:
- Recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes;
- Identify the sounds that different combinations of letters make - such as 'ch' or 'ng'; and
- Blend these sounds together from left to right to make a word.
Children can then use this knowledge to ‘de-code’ new words that they hear or see. This is the first important step in learning to read.
Why phonics?
Research shows that when phonics is taught in a structured way – starting with the easiest sounds and progressing through to the most complex – it is the most effective way of teaching young children to read. It is particularly helpful for children aged 5 to 7.
Almost all children who receive good teaching of phonics will learn the skills they need to tackle new words. They can then go on to read any kind of text fluently and confidently, and to read for enjoyment. Children who have been taught phonics also tend to read more accurately than those taught using other methods, such as ‘look and say’. This includes children who find learning to read difficult, for example those who have dyslexia.
How do we teach phonics?
At Belmont, we follow a fully resourced Systematic Synthetic Phonics Programme called 'Rocket Phonics', which enables children to learn how to read and write. Teachers use a combination of digital and printed resources, along with a fully matched series of decodable reading books. There is also an online platform, meaning that books and resources can be assigned digitally, to be used at home.
The Rocket Phonics lessons follow a Review, Teach, Practice and Apply format. Lessons last 30 mins and are taught daily. By the end of Reception, children who are working at Age Related Expectations will have been taught all the sounds and Common Exception Words in Set 1, and they will have completed Practice Books 1, 2 and 3, and they should be reading a yellow or yellow plus coloured book.
By the end of Year 1, children who are working at Age Related Expectations will have been taught all the sounds and Common Exception Words in Set 2, and they will have completed Practice Books 4, 5 and 6, and they should be reading an Orange coloured book.
In Year 2, children working at Age Related Expectations should now know all of alphabetic code, so no new sounds are introduced, but decoding strategies are still revised and referred to frequently, as a means to decode new and unknown words.
This short video for parents, carers and families explains what the English alphabetic code is and how we teach it through the Rocket Phonics SSP programme.
Rocket Phonics Parent Guide
Please click on the link below to view the Rocket Phonics Parent Guide. This useful document contains lots of advice about how to support your child with their reading at home.
How we teach Reading at Belmont School
Shared Reading
In KS1 and KS2, children will have opportunities to read frequently during whole class English lessons. This may involve reading together as a class from the board or reading/sharing a range of texts.
In Reception, towards the end of the school year, children participate in shared/group reading activities to prepare them for guided reading in KS1.
Whole class Reading – Year 1 to Year6
The intention of this is to expand pupils' vocabulary and deepen their understanding of the texts they are reading. We do this through re-reading sections looking closely at the elements which require further understanding, keeping in mind that children must learn to retrieve information (R), interpret meaning (I) and comment on the author's choice of vocabulary or style (C). Questions check pupils' understanding of previous extracts as well as the current text in order to enhance their memory.
Individual Reading
In EYFS and KS1 children read independently (often with an adult) on a frequent basis. In key stage 2, children who need more individual support will receive help on a one to one or small group basis.
In Key Stage One and EYFS, children access banded reading books, which includes a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.
Parental Involvement
At the start of the school year, your child’s class teacher and the Learning and Achievement Leader will have informed you about classroom routines for each class in regards to reading books/reading home learning activities.
We emphasise the need for parents to take an active role in their child’s education, supporting the developing reader and encouraging open lines of communication through reading logs that must be completed online using the Microsoft My Teams portal.
The Literacy Tree for Parents/Carers
Throughout the school, from Reception to Year 6, we use Literacy Tree for our teaching of English. Literacy Tree is used across the UK and globally and is an award-winning educational platform. All the Literacy Tree resources use high-quality children’s books and for Writing, we follow their Teach Through a Text approach to ensure there is consistency throughout the school.
It also supports to create high levels of engagement as it immerses children in the text whilst covering the objectives fully in the curriculum. The text choices are an important part of this as well - many link to aspects of History and/or encourage deep discussions. We pride ourselves on our diverse choices.