Phonics
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We passionately believe that success in early reading forms the foundations of children’s learning, and is the gateway to the rest of the curriculum.
Children’s reading journey starts in our Early Years Foundation Stage where children are taught through our chosen synthetic phonics programme, Read Write Inc. Phonics is taught daily across Foundation Stage and Key Stage One, and children are taught in small groups based on their developmental stage, not their age. We supplement our daily phonics teaching with targeted interventions and small group tutoring to ensure that all children ‘keep up, not catch up.’ This ensures that all children are confident readers as they progress into Key Stage Two.
In Read Write Inc, children will first learn how to orally segment and blend words using our friend, Fred the Frog. Children will then work through three sets of sounds, and will then learn how to segment and blend words independently.
Set 1 - single letter alphabet sounds (a-z), and children are introduced to ‘special friends’ (sh, th, ch, qu, ng, nk, ff, ss, ll, zz)
Set 2 - common vowel digraphs - ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, ar, or, air, ir, ou oy
Set 3 - alternative vowel sounds - ea, oi, aw, er, ur, ai, ow, oa, ew, ire, ear, are, ure, and children are introduced to ‘chatty friends’ a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e.
Each week, children will bring home a coloured storybook which they have been reading in class to share at home, alongside a matching book bag book. All books are phonically decodable and will only contain the phonics sounds which children have been learning in school. Children will also bring home a storybook of their own choice from our school lending library to share with you at home! You could also access the Read Write Inc e-book library at home; your child’s class teacher will give you a log in to access this website and will suggest which books to access.
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/please-log-in
In the summer term of Year One, all children are required to complete the Statutory Phonics Screening Check. For more information about this, please follow the link below:
Phonics screening check (Year 1) | Oxford Owl
As part of their daily Read Write Inc session, children in EYFS and Key Stage One complete the Get Writing element of the programme for their writing. Each child has their own workbook which relates to the storybook which they are reading. Writing sessions focus on word and sentence level work. Children will learn to apply their phonics knowledge to their writing, using their Fred Fingers to spell words using the sounds they have been learning correctly.
The parent tab on the Oxford Owl website contains all the important information for parents to support your child's reading at home and can be accessed here.
Also, please find below links to lots of short, helpful videos to help you to support your child with the Read Write Inc reading journey at home.