Here at Kenton Primary School, we believe, that every child deserves the right to become a reader. The teaching and learning of reading is at the heart of everything the children do. Whether reading for pleasure or across the curriculum, children learn to decode, comprehend, summarise, infer and predict texts, giving them access to the world of information around them. Reading will enable learning in all other areas of our curriculum, and vice versa. All children should leave our school with a love of reading, and the necessary skills to help them to flourish in their secondary education and in life.
Phonics
Children quickly learn to read using the Read, Write, Inc phonics programme. We believe that Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Children learn to read fluently so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. Through Read, Write, Inc phonics children learn a simple alphabetic code followed by a more complex code. All reading books progress cumulatively, matched to the sound’s children are learning and already know.
The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1. Phonics is taught daily to all children in EYFS, Year 1 and those in Year 2 who have not passed the phonics screening in Year 1 or completed the Read, Write, Inc (RWI) phonics.
In the EYFS, a vital aspect in the development of essential knowledge and skills in phonics is the use of continuous provision. This means that children are using and developing taught skills throughout the year on a daily/weekly basis. Children take part in daily synthetic phonics sessions, which follows the Read Write Inc. programme. Children are encouraged to transfer the skills they learn in phonics sessions into their independent reading and writing in the continuous provision.
Children are taught to:
- decode letter/sounds correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
- read ‘tricky’ (red words) on sight
- understand what they read
- read aloud with fluency and expression
- write confidently, with a strong focus on vocabulary and grammar
- spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
- acquire good handwriting
In addition, children are taught to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as children’s poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code.
Teachers ensure that children read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the ‘red words’. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to children, so a love of reading is promoted.
Children will work with their talk partner to read red words (words that cannot be phonetically sounded out) green words and a simple story. Teachers will engage in role-play and freeze frames to bring these stories to life during lessons. There are a range of comprehension questions within the sessions that will help to support children with their confidence and fluency when reading.
Read Write Inc Phonic Sounds Sets 1-3
RWI Parent Booklet set 1 sounds