Early Reading
Intent:
At Sinnington Community Primary School we aim to develop the full potential of all our pupils as confident, literate readers and writers. If children are to develop as competent readers and writers, it is vitally important that they have a secure understanding of the letter sounds and spelling system of the English language. Phonic skills need to be developed in a systematic way, based on a stage approach. Reading is a key life skill and we strive to embed a culture of reading into the core of what we do, providing opportunities for children to read both independently and aloud as well as allowing them the chance to discuss and recommend books they have read to their peers. Reading and quality literature is implicitly interwoven into our curriculum through the use of key texts to expose our children to various genres and famous authors and to enhance the variety of exciting topics that we teach. Please click the link below to explore the range of texts our children read every half term.
The core texts we read together 2023-2024
The core texts we read together 2022-2023
All teachers have the highest expectation that children will become proficient readers by the end of Key Stage 1 through our systematic, consistent implementation of our chosen phonic programme - Read Write Inc.
The intent behind our phonics approach is to:
• Deliver a high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programme of proven effectiveness is followed with rigour and fidelity so that children are taught consistently to use phonics as the route to reading unknown words.
• Ensure pace of the phonics programme is maintained so that children become fluent, independent readers by the end of year 1.
• Ensure children’s reading books show a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know to support decoding skills.
Implementation:
In Key Stage One and Early Years, pupils receive phonics sessions where decoding and work on sight words happen. We follow the Read Write Inc. scheme which is an integrated approach to teaching phonics, reading, writing, handwriting and spelling. The majority of our children have completed the programme by the end of Year 1 and there is a structure in place for those children who need more teaching in Year 2 and above. You can find out lots more about Read Write Inc. at the following website. and there are weekly updates for families on the sounds their children have been learning and useful video links sent via Tapestry.
You can also find out how to make sure that you are saying the sounds purely, which is how we teach phonics at school:
Reading at home is strongly promoted and children in EYFS/Year 1 take home a Read Write Inc story book and book bag book linked to their current Phonics grouping, whilst we have just launched (Summer 2023) our 'Share a Story' books to promote parents and children reading and sharing stories together at home.
The Principles of the Read Write Inc Programme:
At our school we follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme from Foundation Stage, through KS1 and into KS2 if appropriate. Through the programme the children learn the 40+ phonemes which include the alternative pronunciation of sounds. The children become skilled at blending for reading and segmenting to aid spelling as well as learning to read and spell the common exception words. Read Write Inc may also be used to support children in Key Stage 2 as part of timetabled intervention.
The programme is carefully structured with each part of the phonics lesson having a specific purpose. The phonics sessions are fast paced and encourage the children’s constant participation and engagement, resulting in high-quality phonic work on a daily basis. A great deal of positive praise is used and children use different methods to learn to sound out (decode) words for reading and segment (encode) words for spelling. This helps teachers ensure that by the end of Key Stage 1, children develop fluent word reading skills and good foundations in spelling.
Tracking and Assessment:
All pupils are assessed at appropriate intervals (half termly) as they progress. During daily sessions of phonics there are also opportunities for practitioners to regularly assess children’s understanding. Outside the discrete daily phonics sessions there are opportunities to observe the application of phonic skills, e.g. during guided/shared reading.
Regular monitoring of the assessment outcomes allows teachers to ensure that all children are making expected progress, including children in the most vulnerable groups. This information is also used to identify children who are not making expected progress and therefore early intervention can be put in place.
Year 1 Screening Check:
Every Year 1 child in the Summer term will take a Phonics Screening Check. This is a phonics-based check where children will be expected to read 40 simple, decodable words including nonsense words. This is a progress check to identify those children not at expected level in their reading. The results will be reported to parents as well as the local authority. Children will be rechecked in Year 2 if they do not reach the expected level. Any child working below the level of the screen check may be disapplied, with the acknowledgement of the parent/carer.
Additional Support/Intervention:
Through careful monitoring and tracking, teachers are able to identify children who are not making the expected progress and therefore need intervention to catch up. Depending on the needs of individuals, this may include additional individual or small group tutoring before the lesson or after the main lesson; one to one work with a trained practitioner or extra support for a child or small group of children within a lesson. It is important that children who are struggling to learn to read not only need to catch up with their peers, but also to continue to make progress.
Phonics in Key Stage 2:
If children in Key Stage 2 experience difficulty in reading and/or writing because they have missed or misunderstood a crucial phase of the systematic phonics teaching, additional resources can be used to support them.
Special Educational Need:
Our aim is that every child’s needs are catered for and is given the chance to succeed and become competent readers. If children are not attaining as expected, due to other difficulties, then it is our duty to put extra intervention in place, to help close the gap and ensure progress is being made.
Homework and Reading at Home:
Homework is used to support phonics taught in class, through tasks a variety of tasks. Please click the link below that outlines the types of homework sent out each week.
Donaldson Phonics Homework Letter
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