Early Reading

At Shere School we know that reading is the key to all learning and so much more besides. We want children to read to aid their learning, for example to be able to locate information and knowledge or to learn a new skill – we call this reading for purpose. Beyond this we want all children to know that reading can provide an escape from their current reality, can introduce them to new places, ambitions and dreams and is an amazing tool to support one’s mental health – we call this reading for pleasure.

To ensure our children are equipped with all that they need to be competent and confident readers we start teaching reading skills from the very start. At our school, we follow the Monster Phonics scheme. This is an award-winning, multi-sensory phonics programme which uses colour to consistently code for key graphemes in English. It is unique, in that it uses character (monster) phoneme cues and colour-coding to represent the long vowel sounds, silent letters and tricky letters.

We have selected the Monster Phonics Programme (DfE validated) for its fun and engaging content, and because it is designed to meet the needs of our youngest learning in Fox Cubs Nursery. In recent years our wonderful parents raised funds enabling us to purchase a great selection of high-quality reading books that closely match our scheme, this means that children can bring home books to read with you at home.

You can read more about Monster Phonics For Parents

At Shere School we simply love stories! Our children love nothing more that listening to their teacher share a great book at the end of a busy day. To ensure children hear the most wonderful books the world can offer, teachers have created a reading spine of the books they guarantee children will hear during their time at Shere School. You can view our reading spine here.

Monster Phonics Reception Progression Map
Monster Phonics Year One Progression Map
Monster Phonics Year Two Progression Map