Hope School Reading Scheme & Reading Resources
At Hope School and College, we use the Rhino Readers reading scheme to support the development of phonics and early reading skills. However, we recognise that many of our pupils are working within the earliest stages of communication, pre-reading and emergent literacy. As a result, pupils access the Rhino Readers scheme when it is developmentally appropriate and when they are ready to engage with structured phonics-based reading. Prior to this, pupils are supported through a range of activities that develop the foundational skills required for reading, including attention and listening, communication, shared enjoyment of books, environmental sounds, and early phonological awareness. Further information about our approach to reading and the progression of reading skills can be found in the Reading documentation within the Curriculum section of our website.
Our main school Reading Scheme is Rhino Readers. This reading scheme is organised in accordance with our school phonics scheme – Twinkl Phonics. In school we have access to hardcopies of the reading books but also have access to the full eBook reading scheme. Rhino Readers is an exciting, original collection of fully decodable books. Exactly aligned with Twinkl Phonics, the collection covers all levels; it’s the perfect reading scheme for us at Hope School.
Rhino Readers books keep the focus on phonics, with clear progression and support for pupil’s early decoding skills as they move through each level. This method ensures pupils only read the sounds and tricky words they’ve already learnt
Level 1 Books – With sounds and listening at their heart, Rhino Readers Level 1 books have been carefully crafted around seven key aspects of Level 1 phonics teaching – environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and oral blending and segmenting. Kick-start the journey to reading success from the early years, by laying the foundations for good phonemic understanding and developing pupil’s spoken language skills.
Level 2 – 6 Books – Through Levels 2 – 6, Rhino Readers books keep the focus firmly on phonics progression – supporting pupil’s mastery of the sounds and tricky words learned, and ensuring they meet only the content they’ve already covered in their Phonics teaching. They are perfectly pitched to offer challenge and opportunities for reinforcement, and the colourful Before Reading and After Reading pages ensure there’s structure and support for reading from beginning to end.
Progression through levels 2 -4
Progression through levels 5-6
We also have other complementary reading schemes in school as we recognise that with our diverse cohort not all pupils learn to read through a phonic based approach.
Our complementary reading schemes are as follows:
Oxford Reading Tree
ORT supports the simple view of reading – with word recognition, language comprehension and speaking and listening skills embedded.
It compromises of multi-layered stories follow characters through real plots from the earliest stages of reading.
