Phonics and Early Reading
Developing literate citizens of the future.
English enables pupils to develop a love of literature which is shared and encouraged. Children will develop and understanding of how our language works and be able to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them, whilst engaging with quality texts. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Reading will enable pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know, enabling them to participate fully as a member of society.
Little Wandle
We use Little Wandle to ensure:
- A solid foundation in reading for all: Little Wandle uses the systematic synthetic phonics approach. This heavily influenced current government policy as it was shown to give the best foundation in reading for all children regardless of social and economic background.
- With fiction and non-fiction titles from Phases 1 to 5 this ensures children read from books with the sounds they know as they are learning to read.
- Accessible and inclusive phonics teaching
- Frequent and detailed assessment: In addition to the end of unit and phase summative assessments, appropriate and informal assessment opportunities are offered in the daily lessons.
- Timely intervention is in place for children at risk of falling behind.
PHONICS OVERVIEW BY YEAR GROUP
READING BEYOND PHONICS
We want to develop all children’s ability to decode but also to be able to understand the texts which they read. We aim to provide opportunities for children to read for a purpose but also to read for enjoyment too by valuing and introducing a wide variety of reading material.
Our English curriculum is based on carefully chosen texts for each class which link to the topics they are studying. These texts are used to inspire writing of all genres. There is a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry within each term and texts have been chosen to reflect the diverse world in which we live with a mix of authors old and new.
Children enjoying being read to frequently by staff. All teachers read aloud to their class giving children a chance to express their opinions about the books they enjoy. All classes have a book area where children can choose to read for pleasure through the day.
Children are strongly encouraged to take part in reading challenges such as the Calderdale Library Summer Reading Challenge, as well as the Reading at Home challenge. Each year we use Book Week (usually around World Book Day) to celebrate books and authors and to engage everyone, staff and students into reading for pleasure.
READING AT HOME CHALLENGE
