Welcome to Bellfield Juniors School's English site.
Please scroll down to find our Reading and Writing Curriculum
Statements and learn more about how English is taught and enjoyed across Key Stage 2.
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How is English taught at Bellfield Junior School? Bellfield Junior School aims to be a beacon of inclusivity and excellence in education, where every child is inspired to embrace language and literature. We strive to create a dynamic learning environment that promotes high standards in spoken language, reading, and writing through innovative, structured lessons. Our focus on adaptive interventions ensures that each child’s unique abilities are recognised and nurtured, equipping them with the skills necessary for success in their future endeavours.
READING CLOSE READING Reading skills are taught in mixed ability groups across the school. Children follow a 2 week cycle of a text and focus on: vocabulary, analysing , inference and retrieval comprehension skills. The texts are a balance of carefully chosen fiction and non fiction themes which offer engaging yet challenging reading opportunities, for example 'Siren Song' and 'The Industrial Revolution'. PHONICS -Little Wandle - Rapid Catch Up Reading lessons are adapted to allow some of our children the opportunity to further embed their phonics knowledge. Several small groups are run by TAs/teachers, who are trained through the Little Wandle scheme, to deliver these lessons. Books match the letter sound they are learning and these are also sent home for further reading opportunities. Assessments take place as per the Little Wandle guidelines. Children re-join their class' Close Reading lessons upon completion of the programme. CLASS READERS We have carefully chosen a range of 'Class Reader' texts which the children enjoy listening to at least twice each week. The focus is on: explicit vocabulary instruction, reading fluency/strategies (paired/timed/echo), prosody (repeated), prediction and summarising skills. The teacher reads the text but there are opportunites for children to read aloud in these lessons. Each child has their own copy of the Class Reader text , the themes and authors include a wide range of diversity and cultures, for example 'Skellig' by David Almond. Please enjoy browsing these books which are on display near the office. By the end of Y6, children will have had read most, if not all of these texts , depending on when they started at BJS.
HOME READING OPPORTUNITES Children complete a 'STAR Reader' test each term, which assesses their reading comprehension. They then choose a book from their Accelerated Reader class library to match their reading ability (ZPD-Zone of Proximal Development). When they have read their book they take an 'AR ' quiz, which is a series of multiple choice questions depending on the book level. Children are encourgaged to achieve at least 80% in these test. They are rewarded with Dojos. Children who are on our Rapid Catch Up Phonics Programme also enjoy taking books of their choice home but do not quiz on them.
LIBRARY Children have the opprotunity to visit our school library. They can enjoy browsing and discussing books with their class friends. They are allowed to take a book home to read , purely for pleasure but there is also the opportunity for further AR quizzing if they wish to do so.
READING CHALLENGE
WRITING
SPELLING
Reading - Family Support Please hear your child read for about 10-15 minutes each evening or at least 4 times a week. Try to choose somewhere quiet away from the television. Some children like to read in bed before they go to sleep. Praise your child and encourage them. Some children may like you to read the book to them first to make them feel more confident. When the child finishes the book, then will quiz on it and then choose anew one. Older/more independent children can read to themselves but they may wish to discuss the chapter they have read with you or ask for help with unknown words or explanation of the text. Each child will also be given a 'Reading Record'. Please write the title of the book in here and the date the child reads it, there is also a space for your comment. Each week a member of staff will collect the Reading Record in to read any comments from home, write comments back and give Dojos for good effort. This Reading Record is key for Home/School communication of home reading. Children can earn Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Certificates for Home Reading efforts.
How to help your child with Phonics! Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ |
Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year here at Bellfield Juniors. This page is designed to share all the wonderful English learning and experiences which our children have enjoyed so far this year. There is also practical information on how to support your child with reading and writing.
AUTUMN 2025
Whole School Christmas Play
Today, the children enjoyed a surprise performance by a visiting theatre company. We had an hour of singing, laughing, dancing and fun watching two actors performing 'Scroogical' .
' I loved the ending as it all turned out well for Scrooge.' - Y4 child.
'The author was Charles Dickens.' -Y6 child
Scholastic Book Fayre
This was a really well attended event spread over 4 days. Lots of children , and their families, came to browse and buy books after school. It was lovely to see so many children enjoying choosing books. Lots of money was raised for our school, we can now buy some more books for our library and AR book boxes. Thank you for your support!
Y3 - Parents' Workshop - Reading at Bellfield Juniors
A huge thank you to all of our parents and families who attended the workshop this term. We hope you found the information about phonics, home reading support and how we teach reading lessons useful. The children really enjoyed sharing their reading skills with you. One of our key messages to families is to hear your child read at least 4 times a week at home. This helps with their reading speed, comprehension and vocabulary awareness. Reading is the key to all learning - we aim for every child in our school to have a love for reading and ensure these skills make them ready for secondary school and beyond.
HISTORICAL ENGLISH CELEBRATIONS/NEWS
Story Teller
We welcomed Anna, our amazing local Story Teller, to share Stories from Other Cultures with Y5 and Y6 and A Pocketful of Stories with Y4 and Y3. There was some excellent acting and audience participation from the whole school. We loved listening to the Traditional Tales from India and Tanzania.
Year 6 Poetry Slam!
We were in for a real treat today and thoroughly enjoyed welcoming our local poet ‘Spoz’ into school for a Poetry Slam Day. We worked in teams of six and had great fun being creative with a range of poems. We earned points over the day and it got very competitive! The winning team at the end of the day will represent our school at the Birmingham Hippodrome School Poetry competition evening next spring.
Working Wall Examples
Year 4- The Inn Crowd - we had the professional help from Becki and Imogen - Birmingham Repertory Theatre- to help us to develop our acting skills and produce our production!
Year 5 - Christmas Carol Service - a traditional performance of the nativity with some traditional and modern songs.
Class Readers
To support and encourage whole school reading, every class has a Class Reader which they read every day at 3pm. The children are really enjoying this part of their learning and it ends the day in a calm and thoughtful way. All of the books are by our Class Name authors, for example Naidoo, Blackman Morpurgo and many more!
Engaging Children with Reading
The Reading Shed
We are very lucky to have a 'Reading Shed' for the children to enjoy as an extra mindfulness space to go and read quietly in.
Reading Champions
We celebrate children who have made excellent effort with their home reading -their name is added to a trophy, for example a 'Gold Reader' is a child who has read 75 times per term.
Millionaires' Club
This is a celebration board for all children who have read ONE MILLION words or more in their home reading. They are great role models for the school!
Sharing stories
As a school, we recognise the value of celebrating diversity and sharing stories from different cultures. We have a range of books to share across the school, which are used for Close Reading, shared story time or for general reading.
Autumn Term - Y5 Kensuke's Kingdom
The children wrote balanced arguments about whether Michael and his family should go sailing around the world or not.
