Early Reading and RWI Phonics

Intent

At St. Wilfrid’s Primary School, we are committed to improving standards in Reading and Writing within our school. We aim to provide high quality teaching and learning experiences which result in children becoming confident, skilled, and fluent readers whilst at the same time fostering a love of books, so that all children can become life-long readers. Reading skills are taught during daily Phonics sessions and English lessons.

Our pupils learn to read and write effectively and fluently using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme.

The programme is for:

  • Pupils in Reception Class to Year 2 who are learning to read and write
  • Any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly
  • Struggling readers in Years 5 and 6 follow Read Write Inc. Fresh Start

We work closely with parents/carers to teach reading and phonics. The partnership involves:

‘Stay and Play’ sessions in Reception class, so parents can see how children learn to read and write.

  • EYFS ‘Reading Mornings’ where parents/carers are invited into school to share books with their children
  • Reading to children daily
  • Celebrating successes and achievements in Phonics and Reading
  • Reporting progress in reading/phonics during parent consultations
  • End of year reports

Implementation

In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils:

  • Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
  • Read common exception words on sight
  • Understand what they read
  • Read aloud with fluency and expression
  • Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
  • Acquire good handwriting

The Read Write Inc. programme is detailed and structured. All groups are taught using the same behaviour signals, with high expectations of engagement. This ensures that the children clearly know what is expected and what comes next regardless of the group that they are in.

In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.

We group pupils according to their progress in reading rather than writing. This is because it is known that pupils’ progress in writing lags behind progress in reading, especially for those whose motor skills are less well developed.

In Reception class, we begin the school year by emphasising the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly.

Every 6-8 weeks, we assess all pupils to establish the progress they have made. We use this data to assign them to Read Write Inc. Phonics groups. This gives us a very good indication of how well they are making progress relative to their starting points. We also do this for all pupils, whenever they join us, so we can track all of them effectively. This data also allows us to intervene in different ways. For instance, we quickly move pupils to another group if they are progressing faster than their peers. Those who continue to struggle have one-to-one tutoring so that they keep up.

We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher supports their increasingly fluent decoding.

We support all pupils that are at risk of falling behind. We do this through a one-to-one tutoring programme that provides additional sessions for 10 minutes per day with a highly trained member of staff.

Once children complete the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, they are taught spelling rules and reading skills within the English Curriculum.

At the heart of our English Curriculum is the enjoyment of and engagement with a variety of quality texts. Pupils are encouraged to elicit meaning from each text, becoming independent and critical thinkers. Comprehension activities are designed to help children to infer, summarise, question, clarify, predict and argue a point of view. The children also make connections between texts and their own experiences.

Impact

By the end of Key Stage 1, our pupils can read aloud age-appropriate texts accurately and with sufficient speed for comprehension. This means that we can focus on developing their comprehension, preparing them well for transition to Key Stage 2. Their good decoding skills mean that they have a sound strategy for decoding unfamiliar words when they come across them at whatever stage or in any subject, even into secondary school.

Our teachers are enthusiastic about using the Read Write Inc. programme because they can see how well pupils learn from it and the progress they make, not just in English, but across the curriculum.

To find out more about the programme and for information about how to support your child at home, click on the links below​.

RWI information for parents

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/

Oxford Owl – Read Write Inc Phonics: A guide for parents

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/