Core Subjects

English

Reading

We believe that reading is an important life skill, and making our children successful and confident readers is a high priority for us. To make this happen, we have:

  • an excellent phonics programme
  • a cohesive reading scheme which runs throughout the school
  • regular guided reading sessions
  • a wide range of books for school and home reading, which are regularly updated
  • decoding and comprehension skills taught in lessons
  • weekly vocabulary lessons
  • the fluency model in all reading sessions
  • daily and termly home reading monitoring
  • a Reading Buddies scheme
  • fantastic reading displays around the school
  • book fairs which promote a joy of reading
  • a link with our local library who promote a summer reading challenge

Reading Scheme

At Beacon Rise Primary School 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 to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds progression we follow. Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto the Oxford Reading Tree scheme so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers. Having progressed through the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, children become free readers and can then choose from our Upper and Lower Key Stage Two Reading Rockstar libraries, each holding 100 or more carefully selected books.

Reading Buddies

The main aim of the Reading Buddies programme is simple – to help and encourage children to read. Through training and support, we ensure that our reading buddies, who are volunteers, are confident to support children with their reading and comprehension skills. Each reading buddy works with one year group for the duration of the year, and is a valued member of the school community.

The aims for pupils are:

  • To show that reading can be an enjoyable and fun experience they can use throughout life.
  • To help them develop their literacy, spoken English and personal skills.
  • To help succeed in all subjects.

The aims for our volunteers (Reading Buddies) are:

  • Personal rewards are fantastic; a child’s smile when they learn a new word can be heart-warming.
  • Any new skills learnt can be taken home to be used with their own children or grandchildren. 

Reading, Phonics and Spellings

At Beacon Rise, reading is delivered first through a programme of synthetic phonics.  We follow Unlocking Letters and Sounds, which was validated by the Department of Education 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. These include Grapheme-Phoneme-Correspondence (GPC) recognition and blending and segmenting interventions. The lowest attaining 20% of pupils are closely monitored to ensure these interventions have an impact.  Children have many opportunities to apply their knowledge of sounds throughout the day in reading lessons, writing lessons, and across the wider curriculum.

Writing

Children are encouraged to start writing in reception, using a cursive handwriting form to join their letters. Across the school, children are encouraged to write for a range of purposes and audiences.  When covering a specific genre, children are taught the relevant skills and curriculum targets required to create an effective piece of writing. We constantly support and encourage the children to develop their vocabulary, spelling, grammar and sentence structure. Within each unit, children are provided with opportunities to demonstrate editing skills including one discrete end-of-unit editing lesson.

Speaking and Listening

Across the school we develop the children’s speaking and listening abilities as we believe this significantly complements their reading and writing skills. We teach the children: turn taking, respecting the views of the others, poetry recitation, formal presentations and debating skills, as well as acting. There are many opportunities for children to take part in productions including assemblies, events for special occasions such as Christmas, and end of year celebrations.

Mathematics

Mathematics lessons take place every day as we believe it is an important element of curriculum and essential to everyday life. We place a strong emphasis on number and calculation (both written and mental), as well as geometry, algebra, measure and statistics. We also believe that Mathematics should be practical and make links to real-life situations whenever possible. Problem-solving and reasoning are also critical parts of mathematical development, as this give pupils the opportunity to apply their mathematical skills and knowledge.

Science

Our science curriculum covers a wide variety of topics which fall under the three main disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. The biological thread of plants, animals and humans runs across all year groups; building and developing children’s understanding as they move through the school. This begins with identification of animals and their habitats, and progresses to food chains, life cycles and environmental impacts upon the natural world. Children are also taught in detail about the human body, its processes and how it functions. The chemistry and physics units, which cover a broad spectrum of topics including space, forces, states of matter, light and electricity amongst others, are taught within specific year groups, and serve to broaden pupil’s scientific knowledge base as they progress through the school. For more information on our science curriculum areas and our progression of learning objectives, click here.

We believe that children should develop their scientific knowledge and understanding through enquiry and investigation. We strive to promote a scientific curiosity, encouraging pupils to question the world around them and seek answers through observations and data gathering. Wherever possible we endeavour to provide a practical and hands-on approach to lessons, allowing children to experience the sciences that surround them in an engaging and tangible way.