Reading & Phonics

Reading and Phonics at St. Gregory’s

At St. Gregory’s, we believe that reading is at the heart of all learning. It underpins the entire curriculum and opens the door to every other subject. Through our reading curriculum, we aim to inspire a lifelong love of books and language in all our pupils.

Our aims for every child

We want all children at St. Gregory’s to:

Develop a genuine enjoyment of reading and gain pleasure from books and stories
Experience a wide range of high-quality texts read aloud by adults
Have access to a rich variety of reading materials in school
Appreciate books from all genres and develop opinions about the work of authors, illustrators, and publishers
Use a range of reading strategies confidently and appropriately
Respond personally and thoughtfully to what they read
Apply their reading skills to support learning across all areas of the curriculum
See research and reading for information as enjoyable and purposeful activities
Use the school and class libraries regularly and effectively
Develop reading as a lifelong habit and source of enjoyment

Our Phonics Programme: Floppy’s Phonics

Early reading at St. Gregory’s is taught through Floppy’s Phonics, a step-by-step and flexible DfE-validated phonics programme that engages children in reading right from the start.

Developed by highly respected phonics expert Debbie Hepplewhite MBE, this programme provides high-quality teaching resources and professional development for staff, ensuring confident and consistent phonics teaching across the school.

Key features of Floppy’s Phonics include:

A systematic and structured approach with built-in consolidation and revision to ensure every child succeeds
The much-loved characters Biff, Chip and Kipper, who capture children’s imaginations and make learning fun
Professional development and training to support the successful implementation of the programme
Closely matched decodable reading practice through Floppy’s Phonics Decoding Practice materials, providing targeted support at each stage
Aligned decodable readers, including Floppy’s Phonics Fiction and Traditional Tales, which give children plenty of opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge in engaging and meaningful ways

Our phonics teaching lays the foundation for confident, fluent reading and writing, helping every child to become a successful lifelong reader.

Supporting phonics at home

Parents and carers play a vital role in helping children develop their reading skills. Here are some simple ways to support phonics learning at home:

Practise the sounds your child is learning in school each week. Use the same pronunciation we use in class to help reinforce their understanding.
Read regularly together — little and often is best. Encourage your child to use their phonics skills to sound out unfamiliar words.
Celebrate success — give lots of praise when your child blends sounds or recognises tricky words.
Talk about what you read — discuss the story, characters, and what might happen next to help build comprehension.
Revisit favourite books — repeated reading builds fluency and confidence.

Working together, we can help children develop a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

Reading in Key Stage 2: DreamBox Reading Plus by Discovery Education

As children move into Key Stage 2, they build on their strong phonics foundation using DreamBox Reading Plus by Discovery Education — an evidence-based, online reading programme designed to accelerate learning through personalised instruction and intervention.

DreamBox Reading Plus adapts to each pupil’s needs using its built-in InSight Assessment, which provides a clear and comprehensive picture of every child’s reading proficiency. Teachers gain detailed insight into each pupil’s silent reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and motivation, ensuring every learner is placed on the best path for success.

The programme offers:

19 reading levels, ranging from early readability to secondary school-level texts
5 additional content levels to support older pupils reading below age-related expectations
Texts that reflect pupils’ own lives and experiences, helping them connect personally with what they read
A range of texts from global sources to broaden knowledge and support cross-curricular learning

Through this innovative programme, pupils develop the skills, confidence, and curiosity needed to understand and engage with the world around them.

How we teach reading

Reading is taught in a variety of ways to meet the needs of all learners. This includes:

Reading to and with the children
Developing phonological awareness
Whole-word recognition
Story re-telling and prediction
Using context, picture, and language clues to make meaning
Discussing character, plot, themes, and author style
Using inference and deduction to deepen understanding
Recognising grapheme and phoneme combinations
Building confidence and fluency when reading aloud

In EYFS and Year 1, children enjoy daily reading sessions that include a wide range of books, poems, and rhymes. This rich exposure to language supports early vocabulary development, comprehension, and a love of stories from the very beginning of their school journey.

From Year 2 to Year 6, children also enjoy daily class novels, which are chosen to reflect a range of authors, genres, cultures, and themes. These shared reading experiences help to develop comprehension, vocabulary, and a love of storytelling. (A full list of our class novels can be found in the attached document.)

To further promote a love of reading, St. Gregory’s hosts the Scholastic Book Fair for one week each term. These events give pupils the opportunity to explore and purchase new books, discover favourite authors, and celebrate reading as a joyful and shared experience across our whole school community.

Children experience reading throughout the school day — in English lessons, guided and shared reading sessions, and across other subjects. They also read individually to teachers and teaching assistants. We regularly welcome authors, illustrators, and other visitors to share their love of reading and inspire our pupils.

Assessment of reading

We carefully assess each child’s progress as a reader by looking at:

Their growing range of strategies for decoding and understanding texts
How confidently and flexibly they use these strategies
Their enjoyment, motivation, and confidence as readers
The breadth of their reading experiences, both at school and at home
Their ability to reflect on and respond to what they read
Their skills in finding, assessing, and presenting information from non-fiction texts and online sources

Through this, we ensure that every child develops the skills and confidence to become a successful, thoughtful, and enthusiastic reader.