Phonics & Reading
Phonics & Reading
Intent:
At Sacred Heart Primary we recognise that reading is the single most important thing a child will learn in school. We strive to support children to learn to read quickly and accurately and are determined that every child will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. We endeavour to foster a real love of reading in our children in order that they choose to continue to read for pleasure.
As a school, we teach synthetic phonics as the initial, and most important, approach to the teaching of reading. Our pupils learn to read and write effectively using the Read Write Inc. (RWI) Phonics Programme which is a systematic programme for the teaching of phonics, reading, spelling and writing.
We aim to ensure that all pupils:
Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
Read common exception words on sight
Understand what they read
Read aloud with fluency and expression
Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
Learn letter formation and handwriting skills.
Implementation:
The RWI programme is delivered to: Pupils in EYFS to Year 2 who are learning to read and write; Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly and struggling readers in key stage 2.
Pupils 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 pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.
We group pupils homogeneously, according to their progress in reading rather than their writing. This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing will lag behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.
In Reception, we emphasise the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily.
We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher, supports their increasingly fluent decoding.
Our aim is for pupils to complete the phonics programme as quickly as possible. The sooner they complete it, the sooner they will be able to choose books to read at their own interest and comprehension level.
Impact:
We assess all pupils following Read Write Inc. Phonics using the Entry and Assessment sheets, half termly and the Reading Leader rearranges groups accordingly. Regular assessments ensure that children receive targeted teaching quickly according to their needs. Children who are progressing through the programme quicker than their peers are moved into a different group and those who are at risk of falling behind the programme’s pace and expectations are given additional support.
The result of phonics teaching at our school will be that children will have a secure knowledge of phonics, enabling them to become confident readers and access all learning across the curriculum, making expected progress or more, with a life-long love of reading. Children will be able to apply the skills learnt to their writing as they are confident in choosing the correct phoneme to grapheme correspondence.