Phonics and Early Reading
At St Joseph's Academy, we understand the importance of fostering a love of reading as an essential skill of life-long learning. As well as teaching word-reading and comprehension, we support and encourage children to develop a love of reading for pleasure. Children are taught to apply their skills to read for meaning in a wide range of genres and across the curriculum.
In EYFS and KS1, daily phonics teaching is crucial to developing reading and writing skills. Our Systematic Synthetic Phonic Scheme is Read Write Inc. The Read Write Inc. resources are used throughout school for daily taught phonic sessions and interventions.
In KS2, after ongoing phonic assessment, Read Write Inc intervention groups are implemented depending on the needs of the individual child.
Read Write Inc. books form the basis of our reading scheme in school, with the older children moving onto a range of quality, more challenging texts and eventually 'free' readers. Children will bring their reading book home daily. Whilst children have many opportunities to read in school, individually, in groups and as a class, there are lots of ways that you can support your child’s reading at home. Any time you can spend sharing your child’s reading book will provide valuable support for their learning. Bug Club is another fantastic resource which is used in school but is also encouraged at home for our KS2 pupils to support your child’s reading.
We would encourage you to hear your child read as often as possible. ‘Little and often’ is best. Reading does not always have to be from your child’s reading book – books from home, newspapers, menus, instructions, internet research or comics are all reading too. Use your child’s reading diary to make positive comments and communicate any concerns. Most importantly, enjoy reading together and give loads of encouragement.
Our school is lucky enough to have a large school library with an extensive range of books, including books that embrace diversity and difference. Children are supported to make use of this resource both within school to support their learning and for their own pleasure.