Phonics and Early Reading

At the heart of our curriculum is a focus on reading. Reading is the gateway to the curriculum and the single most important life skill we can bestow on our pupils.

We begin in the EYFS where children are taught synthetic phonics using the Bug Club programme. The children are taught within their classes/year groups.  We supplement this with small group coaching and interventions to ensure, wherever possible, children keep up with their peers. 

 

Here is a video briefly explaining our phonics/reading scheme and how you can support your children at home:

Bug Club at Home

The parents tab on the Oxford Owl website contains all the important information for parents to support your child's reading at home and can be accessed here:

Oxford Owl for School and Home 

There are also lots of videos to support your child for parents to watch available on this website.  

In EYFS (Robins),  the children learn to read and spell Phase 2-4 sounds and tricky words.  Some children may begin phase 5 in the summer term. In year 1,  the children begin by recapping,  reading and spelling phase 4 sounds and tricky words before moving onto phase 5.

The children are regularly assessed throughout these 2 years to check that they are retaining their learning; if they are not interventions are quickly put in place. At the end of year 1,  the children complete the phonics screening test. 

Through the Pupil Premium and Recovery Funds we have invested in a highly skilled team of practitioners with the sole aim of making sure all children are confident readers as they go into KS2.

The reading journey continues into KS2 with specific focus on the acquisition and development of reading skills through dedicated reading lessons. In these lessons children develop their use of; inference, predicting, questioning, summarising and retelling. The KS2 reading curriculum is carefully planned to ensure these skills are built-on and revisited regularly. Books are specifically chosen to ensure a breadth of reading experiences which in turn allows for the acquisition of knowledge ready for the next stage of their education.

We continue to run interventions for those children in KS2 who are not at age-related expectations. Across the curriculum scaffolding is provided for these children so they can access the learning with their peers.

At St Mary's we also want the children to develop a love of reading. Every child accesses a wide-ranging and culturally rich diet of literature through our school reading spine. These books are carefully selected to supplement and support the growth of children’s subject knowledge across the curriculum and to spark imagination and wonder in our young people. Children also read daily.