Here at Brickhouse we love to read! 

Phonics and Early Reading

As a school we follow the 'Supersonic Phonic Friends' validated phonics programme from Reception through to Year 2.  In Nursery, our children follow the Firm Foundations/SALLEY Programme. Phase 2 is taught during the Summer Term using 'Supersonic Phonic Friends' to prepare our children for their start in Reception.  Children who are unable to access 'Supersonic Phonic Friends' in Reception will continue to use Firm Foundations/SALLEY programme to meet their individual needs.  Some children in Year 3 who need extra support in their phonics learning will still access the 'Supersonic Phonic Friends' programme with Key Stage 1. 

Reading Progression

This document shows the progression in reading across our school. It is broken down into year groups and shows how your child progresses as they move through school linked to the following areas: Phonics and decoding, Common Exception Words, Fluency, Understanding and correcting inaccuracies, Comparing, contrasting & commenting, Words in context and authorial voice, Inference and prediction, Poetry and performance and Non-Fiction. Our Reading Progression document can be found at the end of this page. 

Supporting Children

Children in Year 1 and 2 who require extra intervention are supported by the interventions detailed below.

Key Stage 2 children who have not passed the Government phonics screening check will continue to be taught phonics through a variety of interventions, as detailed below, and they are based on group or individual need.

Phonics is also supplemented across all key stages by Reading Planet & Supersonic Phonic Friends, which is both a physical and electronic library of phonically decodable books and resources.

Phonics interventions include:

• Sound Discovery
• Toe by Toe
• Precision Teaching using  the order of sounds from 'Supersonic Phonic Friends' 

KS1 Reading Curriculum 

When children are more confident and fluent in their phonic knowledge, they will move onto book banded texts. The main reading scheme for Guided Reading in Reception and Key Stage 1 is the Rigby Star Family by Pearson, which contains both Rigby Star and Rigby Rocket schemes, supplemented by Phonics Bug books.  During guided reading with an adult, children will access a text that is above their phonic knowledge to model a range of strategies and fluency. 

KS2 Reading Curriculum

We use a range of recommended age appropriate texts to support the delivery of our whole class reading curriculum. We ensure our children read deeply through the study of a class text  as well as widely through a range of fiction and non-fiction genres across the term.

For our reading sessions we use VIPERS as a whole class approach. During these sessions, we have a focus on developing and exploring vocabulary in depth (etymology, morphology), explaining and discussing an author’s style of writing, predicting and summarising skills and making links with ideas and themes across and within texts.

All children, despite reading fluency levels share the same challenging text to help widen their vocabulary and text based knowledge thus ensuring all readers have a full, reading enriched curriculum. Work is scaffolded for less fluent readers through modelling, adult support and careful questioning.  Some SEN children however, may not be able to access the class text and will have access to texts and tasks that are appropriate to their ability. 

Reading for Pleasure

At Brickhouse Primary School, we have many opportunities to encourage children to read for pleasure;

• Rich, challenging class texts
• Library resource texts to support reading across the curriculum 
• Reading for pleasure tasks using a wide range of recommended and popular texts
• Visits from Oral storyteller Sue Perks 
• Celebrating special reading days; world book day, Roald Dahl day etc
• Inspiring reading areas in all classrooms
• Whole Class adult reading aloud 
• Guided Reading Sessions in KS1 and KS2
• Parent INSPIRE workshops 
• Reading Rewards
• Home reader challenge
• Reading praise certificate 
• Pyjamarama day to celebrate our favourite books 

Reading Rewards

Our children have the opportunity to achieve reading rewards for regular reading all year round. Our school expectation is that children practise reading at home at least four times a week in addition to reading at school.

Each class has an interactive reading display where children earn set house point goals for each milestone reached. We also have a reading or phonics certificate each Friday in praise assembly. This will be to showcase and celebrate all of the hard work and improvements children are making in their reading skills. 

Reading Assessment

Your child will complete termly formal reading assessments in school from Y1-Y6. Class teachers will assess your child's ability using our Teacher Assessment Frameworks. Please click on the correct links below to find expectations for your child's year group. 

Brickhouse’s Phonics and Reading Leader is Miss K. Gaymer and so if you have any issues or require support with your child’s phonics please do not hesitate to contact her on:

year2@brickhouse.sandwell.sch.uk