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Phonics and Early Reading

At Choppington Primary School we use ‘Read, Write Inc.’ for the teaching and learning of phonics. This is a structured approach that takes children through their phonics learning from teaching children sets of sounds and the letters that represent them, how to form the letters and then blend them to read words. The books that children read in school contain the sounds they’ve already learned, so children learn quickly and confidently.
We value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become passionate, ambitious and lifelong readers. We believe that reading is key for academic success and progress in a number of curriculum areas therefore we provide our pupils with the skills and confidence to deal with printed language from a very early age. We provide children with a structured phonics scheme, Read, Write, Inc., that will lead to children becoming fluent readers so that at the end of their primary education with us, they are able to read a wide variety of texts with confidence.
 
The Read, Write Inc., approach:
  • Gets children decoding and comprehending quickly. This sequential learning approach ensures that all children gain accuracy, fluency and a good understanding of the text.
  • Ensures children read storybooks and non-fiction books matched to their growing phonic knowledge.
  • Leaves no child behind. Initial and on-going assessment to track every child's progress and individual needs.
  • Prevents downtime.  Direct teaching followed by partner practice means that every child participates in the whole lesson.
To ensure children develop a real love and thirst for reading a range of genres we provide them with a Read, Write, Inc. story book which they are reading in their phonics lessons as well as a Read, Write, Inc. story bookbag book. The two Read, Write, Inc. books sent home match the individual
child’s phonic ability in order for them to practice at home what they have learnt in school, building on their confidence and fluency as readers.
 
At Choppington, we are determined to provide the best phonics teaching to our children and therefore ensure all staff members teaching phonics are confident and enthusiastic in their approach. Through the teaching of Read Write Inc., our aim is for children to become fluent readers by the end of Key Stage One. This way, we hope to instill a passion and enthusiasm for reading for pleasure in every child so that they have high expectations of their own reading ability throughout school.
 
Phonics screening guide for parents
At the end of Year 1, all children have to undertake the Year 1 Phonics Screening. Working 1:1 with their teacher, children will read 40 words, some of which are real and some of which are pseudo words (nonsense/’alien’ words) containing the 40+ phonemes they have learnt throughout Early Years and Year 1. Children will receive a mark and parents will be notified at the end of the year if this meets the expected standard. Those children who do not will receive extra phonics support in Year 2 and will take the screening at the end of the following year.