Our Phonics Lead is Mr. Tickner

At St Edward's Catholic Primary School we have adopted the Read, Write Inc. programme to develop our phonics and reading skills. Children in Year R, 1 and Year 2 have been assessed and grouped according to their performance. Teachers and staff who help deliver Phonics are receiving up to date training both in the school and with experienced Read Write Inc trainers at other schools.  Our aim is to deliver an even better phonics session each day that is fast paced and has a greater emphasis on Reading books in the Phonics lesson.

What is Read Write Inc?

The Read Write Inc. programme is for primary school children learning to read.  It is a phonics-based programme that helps children learn to read whilst also developing a wide range of vocabulary and encouraging a love of stories. It was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at www.ruthmiskinliteracy.com .

How do we know RWI works?

Schools embedding this programme have been recognised by OFSTED in the HMI ‘Reading by Six Report’ (November 2010) as an example of how the best schools teach reading.

The priority, as before, is on reading skills – children should be able identify the sound that a letter (or letters) makes and use this knowledge to blend sounds to make words and to segment words into their component sounds. Teaching children to write the letters that make the sounds is integrated into our daily phonics delivery. Daily lessons incorporate a range of resources, media and interactive activities. Each day, the children will revise previous learning and steadily build their phonic knowledge.

Spellings for specific groups are implemented into the RWi phonics session. Year groups may send home 'Common exception words' for the children to learn. Common exception words are called 'Red Words' in our Phonics lessons and are words which cannot usually be sounded out in the normal way. They are learnt by sight. In Key Stage 1/2, all children will follow through the Read Write Inc. Spelling programme which allows them to implement previously taught strategies, in their spelling.

Phonics is being taught in ability groups according to RWI Phonics assessments. Children are assessed each term and re-grouped based on their progress. Children have daily speed sounds lessons and the RWI reading and writing section of the lesson. Books are being given out each week to match the sounds children have learnt in their group. 

Parents - What can you do to help at home?

• Read daily together with your child. Sharing their school books with them and reading stories you have at home to them. 
• Listen to your child read, encourage them to 'Fred Talk' (sound out words) if they cannot recognise a word. Read the same story multiple times to encourage confidence in their reading ability.
• Play Fred Games with your child during their time at home. Such as 'Fred Says' (like Simon says - "Fred says touch your ch-i-n") or given them instructions using Fred Talk such as "can you put on your c-oa-t?"
• Encourage a love of reading with your child by sharing special time reading together and talking about stories - making comparisons between stories and real life or other stories that you have read together. 

Phonics Screen Check

The phonics screen check takes place in June, each year. All Year 1 children and those Year 2's who did not previously pass, take the screening check. This consists of reading 40 real and nonsense words (alien words) on a 1:1 basis with an adult. 

Please find below a past paper to use for practise and to understand the layout of the check. 

*When the children reach grey, they'll be assessed through the STAR Reading (Accelerated Reader) platform.

Spelling

At St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, we have adopted an innovative and child-led approach to spelling.  Across the school we have introduced the Read Write Inc. Spelling platform.  The new National Curriculum outlines very clearly the continuity and progression of spelling for Key Stage 1 & 2. This resource includes termly spelling lists that follows the National Curriculum, spelling games and a programme of study for every year group which can be shared with parents to ensure that full coverage of all spelling rules and exceptions have been offered. 

The class teacher will set spelling lists to support each child's individual ability. Weekly spelling assessments will take place in every KS2 class (and, Y2) where the teacher will monitor the progress of each child and provide feedback in any areas of weakness. Discreet spelling lessons will be delivered to the children on a daily basis in order to learn, practice and perfect accurate spelling.

In addition to this, the teacher will use a range of strategies and resources to enhance the children's learning of spelling.

At St Edward's Catholic Primary School, our curriculum is based on the work of E D Hirsch and 'Cultural literacy'

We believe books are very important to cultural literacy. Knowledge of  books referred regularly in our society e.g. "The Gruffalo" should be known by all children at St Edward's Catholic Primary School. They will then all know and talk about the plot, role play it and have enjoyment from reading or listening to Britain's classic books.