Reading and Phonics at Outwood

Reading and Phonics

Learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.  We want all children to love reading – and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read. We have strong links with a local independent bookshop Simply Books who support us in providing high quality texts for all children as well as providing us with opportunities to meet authors. 

At Outwood Primary School, we use Read Write Inc Phonics/Reading for all children from EYFS to year 2 and in KS2 the children have daily guided reading lessons.

Read, Write Inc is a tried and tested, highly successful phonics programme for children aged 4 to 7 who are learning to read and write. It teaches children how to both decode and understand written language to become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. This is achieved by a dynamic approach to teaching phonics that is consistent across the school using the Read, Write Inc phonics resources and fully decodable reading books.

Children are grouped according to their ability in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 to ensure that teaching is matched to their level. Phonics in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 takes place on a daily basis. Children in Key Stage 2 that still require phonics teaching, continue with a specially tailored programme (RWInc) to meet their individual needs. 

Shared Reading forms part of the daily phonics lessons and is led by the reading teachers. All texts are linked to the child's phonic ability. Children enjoy one focus text per week and learning activities support accurate and fluent reading to facilitate comprehension. In addition, children take fully decodable reading books home to further practise skills learnt at school. These books are matched to each child's phonics ability and are closly monitored by the reading teachers to ensure that children are reading books of an appropriate level. Each child visits the school library every week to select a book of their choice to share at home. 

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Reception class. This means that they learn how to ‘read’ the (Phonemes) sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down (Graphemes). This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well.

We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Once the children have learnt to blend accurately, they start to read with fluency. This is achieved through speedy reading of individual words and repeated reads of their shared reading books. 'Tricky words' such as 'once' 'said' 'the' are not phonetically decodable and these are taught explicitly as part of the reading session.  To develop the child's love of stories, we have dedicated story time, across all Key Stages, daily. The teachers read to the children so that they get to know a variety of stories, poetry and information books. They acquire new vocabulary through our word aware teaching, which focuses on embedding new words into their authographic memory. 

Children who join the school throughout the year are quickly assessed in phonics and put in the correct group according to their phonics ability.

Read, Write Inc. has 5 underlying principles – the five Ps:

1. PACE – no time is wasted during teaching sessions! Children are active and involved in a fun and creative way. The aim is for the children to complete the programme as quickly as possible.
2. PRAISE – teachers praise the children constantly throughout the teaching sessions. Children learn more quickly when they are praised for what they do well, rather than nagged for what they do wrong. The children are encouraged to praise each other and as a school we have developed several ‘Praise Phrases’ and ‘Praise actions’. Ask your child to demonstrate!
3. PURPOSE – each activity has a very clear purpose. The teacher will set this purpose at the beginning of the lesson so that the children know exactly what they will be learning.
4. PARTICIPATION – all children take part in all parts of the lesson. Full participation is gained through partner work and choral response.
5. PASSION – as a staff we are passionate about our teaching and the benefits of the Read, Write Inc. programme! We love teaching the sessions and this enthusiasm rubs off onto the children.

Online resources available for  Read, Write Inc links:

Ruth Miskin Parents’ Page: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

Ruth Miskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miskin.education

Free e-books for home reading: http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/Reading/

Useful Links

There are a number of resources available through the BBC website, for example:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml

Family Learning
http://www.familylearning.org.uk/phonics_games.html

Phonics Play
Although this is a subscription website there are some games available for free.
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk 
Oxford Owl is a free website built to support you with your child’s learning.  You’ll find age-specific reading and maths tips and activities, eBooks, and lots of fun ideas to really bring your child’s learning to life.  You will also find support and advice on a range of questions you may have – including helping your child with their phonics, motivating boys to read and ensuring your child is doing their best in maths.

www.bookstart.co.uk
This website provides information about the national Bookstart scheme and the Bookstart packs that your child will receive as a baby, a toddler and at age three to four. It also gives information about sharing books with your child. You can find out about Bookstart events in your area, which you can attend with your child.

What can I do to help?

Please also find our Reading Policy listed below.

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