Phonics & Reading
We value reading as a crucial life skill and instil in our children the need to strive to become fluent readers. By the time children leave us, they read confidently, and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are successful and equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.
Through Jesus, light of the world, we ignite the spark of curiosity, creativity and individuality.
Teaching and Learning Sequence
At Killinghall CE, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. To support this, we teach reading through Read Write Inc., which is a systematic and synthetic government validated phonics programme.
We begin teaching phonics formally in Reception following the Read Write Inc. Progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. We know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects., therefore, throughout school, we have a strong focus on oracy for all our children.
To further support our learners, we timetable additional support and the IDL programme within 2 respectively. We invite all our parents to a Reading and Phonic Workshop/Meeting at the beginning of Reception and Year 1. Please see the parents and carers’ section of the Ruth Miskin website here.
Statement of Intent
We believe that reading is the building block for all learning and so we encourage children to become avid and fluent readers. We strive to deliver a curriculum that fully prepares children for the next step of their learning journey. We are determined that every pupil will learn to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. Phonics and Reading in our school is pitched at the correct level for each child through rigorous assessment, ensuring every child is sufficiently challenged while able to make clear progress. As our children move up through the school, they have regular opportunities to read aloud to adults and peers. This enables us to monitor mastery of sight vocabulary, application of phonics, development of fluency and expression, knowledge of the structure of language and audience awareness.
Our Reading and Phonics Leader
Support for Families
The links and videos below will help parents to understand more about what Read Write Inc Phonics is and how we teach it in school. There are also some helpful videos about how to say the sounds and how to help your child read at home. Some families are keen to have their own resources to practise at home; it is possible to purchase sets of phonics flashcards from sites such as Amazon to help your child learn the Read Write Inc. sounds at home. If you have any questions, please do ask your child’s class teacher.
Early Years
Link to EYFS and Y1 phonics and reading presentation
Link to Read, Write, Inc sound mat
Tutorial on how to pronounce phonics sounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCI2mu7URBc&t=5s
Key Stage 1
Phonics continues to play a huge part in your child's learning throughout Years 1 and 2.
The resources within the Early Years section continue to be used throughout Key Stage 1; please feel free to use these at home.
Key Stage 2
It's important to know that some pupils continue to use their phonics skills as they progress to Key Stage 2.
We further support pupils by providing access to the IDL programme.