Brockmoor Primary School: A Culture of Reading for Success

At Brockmoor Primary School, we do much more than just teach children to read—we immerse them in a rich reading culture. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, unlocking knowledge, fostering curiosity, and developing confident, articulate learners. Our approach ensures that every child develops fluency, comprehension, and a lifelong love of reading.

Our Approach to Reading

Our reading curriculum is structured around:

📖 A research-led, structured approach – Ensuring that reading is developed systematically and progressively.
📚 Core texts embedded across all subjects – Making reading central to every area of learning.
🗣 Oracy-driven instruction – Using structured talk, discussion, and performance to deepen comprehension.
🔄 Retrieval and fluency focus – Revisiting and consolidating key skills to ensure mastery.
🌍 A curriculum that reflects the CUSP Big Ideas – Exposing children to literature that explores themes such as migration, overcoming adversity, friendship, kindness, and British heritage.

Developing Confident and Fluent Readers

We follow a structured, evidence-based approach to developing reading, ensuring that every child can succeed.

🔡 Phonics Programme (Read Write Inc.)

In the early years, children follow a systematic synthetic phonics programme (Read Write Inc.), providing them with the foundation they need to decode and read fluently.

📖 Comprehension Skills

As pupils progress, we deepen their understanding of texts, developing their ability to:

✔ Infer – Reading between the lines to understand deeper meanings.
✔ Predict – Using evidence to anticipate what happens next.
✔ Retrieve – Finding key facts and details from the text.
✔ Explain – Discussing language, structure, and themes.
✔ Evaluate – Justifying opinions and analysing authorial intent.

🎤 Reading Aloud and Performance

Children have opportunities to read aloud, act out stories, and present book reviews, building their confidence, fluency, and articulation skills.

📌 Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

Every lesson strengthens language acquisition, enabling pupils to articulate their thinking with precision.

How We Promote a Love of Reading

We are committed to making reading an enjoyable, exciting, and integral part of school life.

📖 Our Reading Environment

🏗️ Our School Library is Currently Undergoing Redevelopment – We are so excited to be transforming our library into an engaging, vibrant space where children can immerse themselves in high-quality literature. We can’t wait to share the final design!

📚 Every Classroom Has a Reading Area – Each reading corner is carefully designed to promote independent reading, curiosity, and book discussions.

📍 The Reading Curriculum Station – We have created a special space in school where pupils can pick up a recommended read, carefully curated to match different interests and reading levels.

📖 Masked Reader Teacher Competitions – Our teachers bring books to life by dressing up as masked readers and challenging pupils to guess the storyteller.

🚪 Teacher Book Recommendations on Doors – Our teachers share what they are currently reading on their classroom doors, sparking discussions and inspiring children to explore new books.

📖 Daily Reading Opportunities

✅ Whole-Class Reading – Engaging lessons focused on high-quality texts to develop comprehension, vocabulary, and inference skills.
✅ Guided Reading Groups – Small-group sessions tailored to support pupils at different reading stages.
✅ Independent Reading Time – Encouraging pupils to read for pleasure in our vibrant classroom book areas.
✅ Reading Across the Curriculum – Ensuring that reading is embedded in all subjects, from history and geography to science and PSHE.

📢 Exciting Reading Initiatives

🎭 Author of the Month – Each month, we celebrate an inspiring author and explore their works.
📚 Reading Champions – Pupil leaders who champion reading across the school.
📖 Themed Reading Weeks – Special events, including World Book Day, storytelling assemblies, and author visits.
📖 Reading Challenges – Fun activities that encourage children to explore different genres and discover new favourites.
🤝 Parental Involvement – We provide reading workshops and resources to help families support reading at home.

📚 High-Quality Books for Every Child

We have carefully selected high-quality texts linked to our curriculum, ensuring that pupils experience a wide range of literature. Our Reading Spine provides children with a diverse selection of books that:

✅ Support vocabulary development and comprehension.
✅ Introduce classic and contemporary fiction.
✅ Expose pupils to poetry, performance texts, and nonfiction.
✅ Reflect diverse cultures, perspectives, and experiences.
✅ Promote values such as resilience, kindness, and global responsibility.

📖 Reading and the CUSP Big Ideas

Pupils read texts that align with CUSP Big Ideas, ensuring they engage with themes that shape their understanding of the world:

🌍 Migration – Stories that explore journeys, identity, and belonging.
💡 Overcoming Adversity – Inspiring books about perseverance, resilience, and courage.
🤝 Friendship and Kindness – Texts that promote empathy, relationships, and emotional well-being.
🏛 British Heritage – Classic and modern texts that reflect Britain’s literary and cultural history.
🌱 The Natural World – Books that develop curiosity about science, geography, and environmental responsibility.

📖 Celebrating Reading at Brockmoor

We want all pupils to leave Brockmoor Primary School with:

📖 A love of books and literature – Reading for enjoyment, knowledge, and discovery.
🔎 Strong comprehension and analytical skills – Able to think critically about what they read.
🗣 Confidence to articulate ideas – Expressing opinions and discussing texts fluently.

Our curriculum ensures that every child has access to high-quality literature, expert teaching, and meaningful reading experiences.

📢 Want to know more about our reading initiatives?

📩 Get in touch or visit our Reading Curriculum Station to find your next great book!

📌 For more details about our Reading Curriculum, contact Curriculum Lead, Tom Amphlett, at info@brockmoor.dudley.sch.uk. 🚀