Phonics and Early Reading 

Intent

Reading is arguably one of the most important skills that children will learn at school.  At Kingsway, our vision is clear – we aim to provide ‘Every child, Every chance’ to learn to read fluently, ‘Every day’.  

It is important children learn to enjoy illustrations and print in books from an early age and therefore their reading journey starts with this during Foundation Stage One (nursery).  In Foundation Stage Two (reception), children will use this enjoyment of books and print to begin their text reading journey; learning to recognise phonemes and blending them to create words.  In year one, children build on their increasing word and phoneme recognition and a focus on fluency and automaticity begins. This solid foundation enables to become confident and fluent readers, who have learnt to read, age related texts fluently, by the end of Key Stage One (year2) and will be starting to read to learn - gaining knowledge in other subjects through reading.  At this point children are now ‘reading to learn’. 

At Kingsway, we encourage and foster a love of reading through the provision of welcoming, comfortable and engaging reading areas, a text rich communal library and attractive book displays.  All teachers regularly read aloud to children. 

Children on the phonics scheme have access to  RWI books from their phonics lesson and Book Bag books, linked to those texts to enjoy at home.  Once children have completed the phonics programme they move on to our Big Cat reading scheme.  Children from foundation Stage to Year 6 are also able to chose a book to 'read for pleasure' which can be enjoyed and shared with an adult at home.

Implementation                    

At Kingsway we teach systematic synthetic phonics through the Read Write Inc (RWI) scheme of learning which promotes the teaching of phonics through a structured, uniform and progressive structure. RWI teaches children the skills they need to become enthusiastic, fluent and confident readers. 

Teaching and Learning Style

At Kingsway we use the five P’s approach.

• Praise – pupils learn most when in a positive environment
• Pace – good pace is essential to RWI being successful
• Purpose – each part of the RWI lesson has a specific purpose
• Passion – RWI is a very prescriptive programme. It is the energy, enthusiasm and passion of the teachers who deliver it, that brings the teaching and learning to life!
• Participation – A key feature of RWI is collaborative learning and active participation. Children are actively involved in their new learning, helping to commit it to their long term memory.

Delivery of Phonics

Each session includes these key elements:

• Hear it and Say it. The children are introduced to the new phoneme (sound) and the letter formation rhyme linked to it.
• Speeds sounds. The children read the new phoneme and revisit previously taught phonemes.
• Read it. Children read the new sound within a real word (green words) and pseudo words (alien words).  This enables children to develop their decoding and blending skills. Children will be shown where the phoneme is on the speed sounds chart.
• Write it. The children are first taught how to correctly form each grapheme (letters) (supported with rhymes) and as they progress through the scheme they are taught how to write a word containing the phoneme.  This is known as Grapheme Phoneme Correspondence (GPC).
• Common exception words. These words are words which cannot be sounded out (red words).  Children have to learn to sight read them.  Each year group (FS2 – Y6) have a list of NC common exception words which they must learn to read and spell.  Click here to view the red words your child will learn from FS2- Y2….(link to table)
• Read a text. Children will then read a text (RWI story book/book bag book/non-fiction).  They will read the same book every day for one week to build up their confidence, fluency and accuracy.

Click on the link to access phonics resources to support your child with learning to read and to access lists of green and red words for each set of sounds.

Click on the following  link to view the RWI Teaching Sequence.

A RWI speed sounds chart is displayed in every classroom.  Children are taught how to use it to support their spelling choices when writing.  A basic speed sounds chart is used in Foundation Stage and a complex speed sound chart in Key Stages One and Two.

The RWI scheme ensures the children are taught the phonemes (sounds) and corresponding graphemes (letters) needed to be successful readers.  The children apply their learning of new phonemes to read and write both real and pseudo (alien/nonsense) words, in preparation for the phonics screening test at the end of year one.

Foundation Stage One (nursery)

Children will begin phase one of their phonics journey in nursery where we will:

• Promote a love of and interest in books and reading
• Promote a love of mark making
• Develop children’s listening skills

We provide all children with daily story time, a wide range of books for use throughout choosing time and both indoor and outdoor opportunities for mark making.  Staff encourage the use of listening skills through listening to music to dance, listening to instructions, listening to others. 

Foundation Stage Two (reception)

At Kingsway we strive to enable all children to leave reception knowing all set one and two phonemes and being able to read at least green/purple books fluently. 

Children in Foundation Stage will build up from 10 minutes of discreet phonics lessons a day in the autumn term, to one hour per day in the summer term. Children are grouped and taught, according to phoneme recognition and reading fluency ability and are re-assessed every half term. Teachers and Nursey Nurses carry their RWI phonics cards at all times and use these to consolidate learning and pre-teach the next phoneme for those children who are in danger of falling behind. To help break down barriers to learning, a dedicated learning assistant works daily with small groups and 1:1’s to pre-teach, boost and support the children who are identified as needing extra support. This ensures all children are keeping up, not catching up!

RWI phonemes, rhymes and picture cards are displayed in all areas of provision.  Each week, Virtual Classroom films (from the Ruth Miskin Portal) are posted on the FS2 webpage for parents to watch with their child.  The videos can be accessed here.

Key Stage One (Years one and two)

Children in year one begin their Key Stage One phonics journey revisiting set one and two phonemes to re-cap and embed sounds learned during their time in reception class.  They then quickly progress to learning their set 3 phonemes. 

We strive to ensure all children leave year one reading at least blue books. 

Virtual Classroom films (from the Ruth Miskin Portal) are sent home every week via the parent app and email.  This helps parents support their child with reading/phonics at home and regularly updates parents on their child’s progress. 

All KS1 staff carry RWI phoneme cards and words at all times, using playtimes as an opportunity to re-cap phonemes and revise Green words.  Phonics runs through the heart of all areas of the curriculum, with teachers and support staff regularly referring to speed sounds charts to support spelling and using the RWi letter formation rhymes to support handwriting.  Click to view how we teach handwriting at Kingsway.

Children in key stage one also have an individual license for LexiaCore5 reading.  This computer based program supports primary school educators in providing differentiated instruction for pupils of all abilities (FS2 –Y6).  Lexia’s research-proven program provides explicit, systematic, personalised learning in the five areas of reading instruction – phonological awareness, structural analysis (recognising parts of multisyllabic words), fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.  Lexia can also be accessed at home!

The Year One Phonics Screening Test

The phonics screening check is a quick and easy test to assess your child’s phonics knowledge.  It is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in the phonics skills needed to read words and be on track to becoming fluent readers who enjoy reading for pleasure and learning.   We strive to ensure all children leave year one having passed their phonics screening test.  Any child who does not pass the assessment in year one, will be tested again during year two.

Click  to read a parent guide to the screening test.

Key Stage Two (Years three to six)

There are some children who need additional support with their phonics and who find it difficult to pass the statutory phonics assessments.  These children receive intense, targeted support which is monitored and reviewed on a regular basis by the school’s Phonics Lead.  If any child continues to struggle and not make sufficient progress, the school’s SENDCo will be informed and a personal action plan put in place.

Parents as Partners

• Remember to regularly check the school website for Virtual Classroom videos to support your child’s reading. The sounds they are learning this week and all previous weeks are there for you to refer back to.
• Use the table of resources to ensure you are practising the correct words/phonemes for the level you child is currently working at.
• Visit the Read Write Inc website to access parent video guides and activity guides so that you feel more confident in supporting your child on their reading journey
• Try to listen to, or read to your child regularly. We recommend at least 10 minutes per day, but longer if you can.  It can help to have a regular time set aside so that it becomes part of your daily routine, for example at bedtime or before tea.
• Find a quiet place to share your book where you can both feel comfortable and relaxed – learning needs to be a positive experience for you both. Be sure to praise your child for their efforts.
• Encourage your child to have a go at reading words, by using their phonics skills to read unfamiliar words and by working on building up their red word vocabulary.
• Talk about the meanings of words to help develop your child’s understanding and use of language.
• Ask them questions about the text to develop and check their understanding. Click on the following links for some question stem ideas: key-stage one and key-stage two.
• Encourage your child to read whilst you are out: food menus, newspapers, road signs, train timetables and so on.
• We recommend your child reads at least 3 times per week at home.  They will bring home their reading scheme book to share with you.  You may find your child brings home a book they have previously read - this is being encouraged to develop their fluency skills.

"Researchers in the United States who have looked at the impact of parents reading with their children quoted the following figures,

Reading for pleasure

At Kingsway we actively encourage reading for pleasure and recognise it as a core part of every child’s education, regardless of their background or attainment.  We strive to make reading a key part of our curriculum and expose children to a wide range of texts.

We believe that every child becomes a lifelong reader. The national Literacy Trust has noted that becoming a lifelong reader is based on developing a deep love of reading. There is a growing body of evidence which illustrates the importance of reading for pleasure for both educational purposes as well as personal development (cited in Clark and Rumbold, 2006). As well as this, reading enjoyment has been reported as more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status (OECD, 2002).

At Kingsway we provide children with opportunities to read and enjoy a wide range of texts.  These include (but are not limited to):

• Fiction and non-fiction
• Picture books
• Poetry
• Graphic novels/magazines
• Audio books
• Other pupils’ work eg. Work on displays, book reviews

Teachers and other adults in school play a vital role in fostering a love of reading with the pupils.  This is achieved through a wide range of activities:

• Teachers read aloud to pupils, daily
• All adults encourage a love of reading and promote the reading if a wide range of books
• A plethora of resources are available to promote reading

We use a wide range of activities to promote reading for pleasure:

• Class novels – daily 15-20 minute read aloud from the reading spine (Appendix 3). These core texts are supplemented by teachers based on their or pupils’ choices of engaging texts,
• School assemblies – staff share their favourite books or new releases by giving a short book review or reading an extract
• Book days – World Book Day, Poetry Day, National Story telling week
• Reading reviews – children review and recommend texts they have enjoyed to their peers and adults within the setting

Story time

Story time is the highlight of every day. We have a canon of stories that children get to know really well, and others we read just for fun.  To ensure children are exposed to a range of authors and genres in each year group, filled with rich vocabulary and an array of themes we have created a ‘Read aloud spine’.   Children learn poetry too. We’ve included poetry in our read aloud spine.  They contain wonderful, memorable poems that children can learn by heart. The poems focus upon feelings and situations with which young children are likely to be familiar, e.g. bedtime, siblings and feeling poorly.   Children also have access to story sacks to embed stories and promote storytelling.

Click here to view our read aloud spine read aloud spine

Library time

We have two libraries in school: Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.  Both libraries provide children with a wide selection of texts: poetry, picture, graphic novels, archaic, complex/emotional/ethical/culturally diverse themes, mystery/fantasy, uncertainty/inference and those with BAME main characters. 

All children have a timetabled weekly session to visit the library.  During the library sessions children are encouraged to discuss the books and recommend books to their peers.  Activities such as ‘book blankets’ are used to promote book talk within the group.  Post it note reviews written by children and adults to stimulate curiosity and interest when children are browsing.

Every classroom has a class library full of books which the children have chosen themselves.  Children pick two books each from the main library to put in their class reading areas.  Children can access these throughout the day.

Children have a library card and may borrow a book of their choice to take home (see how can parents help at home for more information).  These books can be shared, enjoyed at home and returned to exchange for another each week.

Impact

The children are regularly assessed to ensure that we are meeting their individual needs.  If a child appears to be falling behind they are given immediate, bespoke, intensive 1:1 support.  If a child is exceeding expectations, they are given more challenging texts and comprehension questions. This not only prepares them for their end of Key Stage One reading assessments but also ensures their reading journey continues to be challenging and engaging.

The phonics lead will:

• Ensure all children are regularly assessed and this information is used to inform next steps.
• ‘Drop in’ on RWI lessons to give advice and informally check that pupils are engaged, making good progress and having fun!
• Where necessary models lessons
• Request to see intervention folders and phonics books to monitor and evaluate the delivery of lessons
• Report to the Headteacher and governors about the quality of the implementation of RWI and the impact on standards.

If you have any question or would like further support, please speak with your child's class teacher or ask to speak with Mrs Wigglesworth who is the school's Phonics Lead.

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 Phonics Screening Year 1

Phonics Screening Re-Test Year 2