Reading at Brookfield State School
At Brookfield State School, reading is at the heart of learning. Our approach is grounded in strong research, aligned with the Australian Curriculum, and designed to ensure every student becomes a confident and capable reader, equipped for success across all areas of learning and beyond. We use a structured, evidence-based approach that explicitly teaches the skills students need to read, understand and enjoy texts across all learning areas.
What we Teach
Our reading program focuses on the essential components of literacy, often referred to as the “Big Six":
- Phonological and phonemic awareness – hearing and manipulating sounds in words
- Phonics and spelling – understanding the relationship between sounds and letters
- Fluency – reading with accuracy, pace and expression
- Vocabulary – developing strong word knowledge
- Comprehension – understanding and interpreting texts
- Oral language – speaking and listening skills that support reading development
Reading is taught through a structured and systematic focus on these key elements. Oral language is embedded throughout, as it underpins all aspects of reading development.
In the early years, students develop strong foundations through phonemic awareness and phonics, learning how sounds connect to letters and words. As students' progress, teaching increasingly focuses on fluency, vocabulary development and deep comprehension. This ensures students not only decode text, but also understand, analyse and respond to what they read.
How we Teach
Reading at Brookfield is explicitly taught using a clear teaching and learning cycle. Teachers model skills, guide practice and support students to apply their learning independently through the Gradual Release of Responsibility:
- I do – the teacher models and explains
- We do – the teacher and students work together
- You do – students apply their learning independently
Our daily literacy blocks include a range of structured reading practices:
- Close Reading – whole-class, teacher-led exploration of rich texts
- Collaborative Reading – shared reading where students actively contribute to understanding
- Target and Monitor Reading (TMR) – small group instruction tailored to student needs
- Paired Reading – students read together to build fluency and confidence
- Independent Reading – students apply skills and develop reading stamina
These approaches ensure students experience reading in multiple ways, with appropriate support and increasing independence.
Spelling and Word Knowledge
Spelling is explicitly taught as part of our reading approach, supporting students to become confident readers and writers. Each lesson follows a consistent routine to build understanding and reduce cognitive load:
- Review – revisit previously taught concepts
- Teach – explicitly introduce new learning
- Practise – guided practice with teacher support
- Apply – use learning in authentic reading and writing contexts
- Check-in – monitor understanding and provide feedback
Students are taught both regular and irregular words, with a strong focus on orthographic mapping to support long-term word recognition and spelling accuracy.
As students progress, teaching also includes morphology (understanding word parts such as prefixes, suffixes and base words) and etymology (the origin and history of words). This deepens vocabulary knowledge and supports both spelling and comprehension.
Building Deep Understanding
A strong focus at Brookfield is comprehension, helping students truly understand what they read. Teachers explicitly build vocabulary, background knowledge and understanding of text structures before, during and after reading. Students engage in rich discussions about texts, exploring the author's language choices, purpose and meaning.
Rather than simply memorising strategies, students are supported to think deeply about texts and develop genuine understanding. This ensures comprehension is meaningful, transferable and embedded in authentic reading experiences.
Supporting Every Learner
We use a multi-tiered approach to ensure all students are supported:
- Tier 1 – high-quality teaching for all students
- Tier 2 – targeted small group support
- Tier 3 – intensive, individualised intervention
For students requiring additional support, we provide evidence-based Tier 3 intervention programs, including MiniLit, MacqLit, Sounds-Write, and explicit small-group comprehension instruction. These programs are carefully targeted to meet individual learning needs and accelerate student progress.
Monitoring of Reading
Student progress is closely monitored through a range of regular assessments to ensure every child is supported to succeed. This includes DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), a short, research-based assessment used from Prep to Year 6 to track the development of key early reading skills such as fluency and accuracy.
Teachers also conduct regular phonics and spelling check-ins, which may occur daily or weekly, to monitor students' developing knowledge of sounds, words and spelling patterns. These are complemented by term-by-term reading and writing assessments aligned to the phonics and spelling concepts taught, providing a broader picture of each student's progress over time.
In Year 1, students complete the Phonics Screening Check, a state-wide assessment that provides valuable insight into their ability to decode words using phonics knowledge.
Together, this ongoing assessment approach enables teachers to respond quickly and effectively, tailoring teaching to meet the individual needs of every student.
Our Commitment
Reading at Brookfield State School is:
- explicitly taught
- embedded across all learning areas
- informed by current research and best practice
- delivered through consistent, high-impact teaching strategies
Through this approach, we aim to develop lifelong readers who are confident, capable and engaged in learning.