Early Reading & Phonics
We believe that every pupil in our school is on their journey to engage with reading.
For pupils at the beginning stages of their reading journey we focus on acquiring essential pre-reading knowledge, understanding, and skills, including focus and attention, early communication, and memory and sequencing abilities. These skills are nurtured through access to high-quality books and poetry and extended by concrete resources and experiences. Our approach includes using the ‘Little Wandle Foundations for Phonics’ programme.
As pupils move through their reading journey, we implement ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised’, a systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP). At this stage children progressively build their understanding of the alphabetic code, enabling them to master phonics for reading and spelling. To complement the phonics programme, we provide carefully matched decodable reading books, allowing children to apply their phonics knowledge and eventually access high-quality texts for reading enjoyment. These skills are fostered through the sharing of high-quality stories and poems, learning rhymes and simple poems, and engaging in activities that promote focused listening and attention.
Pupils who have established pre-reading and foundational reading skills, are supported to become proficient early readers. They are encouraged to develop a love for reading by exploring a variety of texts and genres. Alongside formal decoding and automatic word recognition skills, there is a continued focus on enhancing fluency and language comprehension. Pupils are encouraged to use their reading skills in real life contexts.
Core Texts
To ensure pupils engage with a rich variety of literature, we have developed a collection of Core Texts, encompassing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and rhymes. All English lessons are based around these texts. These texts have been thoughtfully selected to align with key learning topics and to represent a diverse range of authors, characters, and perspectives. This approach ensures students are exposed to a wide spectrum of voices and experiences, fostering inclusivity and broadening their understanding of the world.
send teaching reading guiding principles june 24 2 .pdf
send teaching the send programme june 24 1 .pdf
