Phonics
Our children become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading.
Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners.
We achieve this together through:
- Read Write Inc, a phonics program to help to your child read at school
- Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school
- Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home
We use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links.
Miss Fleet is our Read Write Inc lead teacher, so if you have questions about RWI, pop in or call and we’ll get you in touch with her.
Read Write Inc is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. It’s designed for children aged 4-7. However, we begin the programme in Nursery and will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.
Read Write Inc. – find out more
Oxford Owls - Read Write Inc. Phonics guide for parents
How is Read Write Inc taught?
Our children work in groups, with others who are at the same level as them. We regularly check what level each child is at, so everyone can participate in lessons.
Nursery
When appropriate, children will be introduced to the initial sounds in short five minutes sessions.
Reception
In Reception all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.
Reading
The children:
- learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
- learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
- read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
- work well with partners
- develop comprehension skills in stories by answering ‘Find It’ and ‘Prove It’ discussion questions
Writing
The children:
- learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
- learn to write words by using Fred Talk
- learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write
Talking
The children
- They work in pairs so that they:
- answer every question
- practise every activity with their partner
- take turns in talking and reading to each other
- develop ambitious vocabulary
Year One and Year Two
Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for one hour. Once children become fluent speedy readers they will move on to literacy in Year One and Active English in Year Two.
Five key principles:
- Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about
- Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning
- Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability
- Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning
- Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.
Fred Talk
We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.
At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! we call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g.
m-o-p
c-a-t
m-a-n
sh-o-p
b-l-a-ck