Reading and Phonics

                                                   “Good literacy floats on a sea of talk” James Britton

We strive to ensure all our pupils develop a love of reading and work hard to ensure these reading skills, vocabulary choices and creative ideas link directly to the children’s writing.  We follow The National Curriculum's guidance and teach the three distinct areas of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing, (which includes handwriting and spelling.) Teachers in Key Stage Two follow a systematic guided reading scheme (Pearson – Pinpoint) that ensures there is interest and challenge for all.

In our school, we use the Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds scheme to teach phonics.  Spellings rules and English home learning tasks are introduced from Year 1 upwards. Reading records in Reception also show the weekly phonemes the children have been learning to ensure that the children and parents can continue to practise at home. We track phonics progress throughout the year and use Little Wandle six week assessments. For more information about Little Wandle please see the Parent/Carer information documents attached.

We have developed our own spelling scheme and these key patterns are taught at the beginning of the week within each class, with a test every Friday, The children learn how to use the words and practise using them in the context of their own sentences.  Every Wednesday, to ensure that the spellings are committed to their long term memory, we have a retest to ensure that the children can then use them confidently in their own independent writing.

We provide books for children to share and read at home throughout the year and a home reading record to encourage parents to make comments as part of the dialogue between home and school. From our youngest children in Reception to our oldest pupils in Year 6, we ensure that all children take home phonetically decodable books, to support fluency and confidence.  Within our reading scheme we have ensured there is a wide range of text types and for Key Stage 1.  Children are encouraged to use the school library to change their ‘share book’, gather information from reference books and to take time with their peers to enjoy reading books aloud.

A range of events that promote reading are held throughout the year, including visits from authors and visits to theatre groups.  Throughout the year we look to celebrate our love of reading through our charity events like ‘Every child deserves a bedtime story’ and our annual book days when children (and staff) are encouraged to dress up as a favourite book character!