Reading

At Widewell Primary Academy our pupils learn to read and write effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme produced by Ruth Miskin.

The programme is for: pupils in Foundation to Year 2 who are learning to read and write and any pupils in Years 2, 3 and 4 who need to catch up rapidly.

 

In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils:

  • Decode letter-sound correspondences quickly and effortlessly, using their phonic knowledge and skills
  • Read common exception words on sight
  • Understand what they read
  • Read aloud with fluency and expression
  • Spell quickly and easily by segmenting the sounds in words
  • Acquire good handwriting.

 

In addition, we teach pupils to work effectively with a partner to explain and consolidate what they are learning. This provides the teacher with opportunities to assess learning and to pick up on difficulties, such as pupils’ poor articulation, or problems with blending or alphabetic code knowledge.

In Read Write Inc. Phonics pupils are grouped across the school in terms of their reading ability, meaning they are reading at an appropriate decoding level every day. The homogeneous groups in the phonics lessons help us to focus the teaching and ensure pupils learn to read quickly.

In Foundation we emphasise the alphabetic code. The pupils rapidly learn sounds and the letter or groups of letters they need to represent them. Simple mnemonics help them to grasp this quickly. This is especially useful for pupils at risk of making slower progress. This learning is consolidated daily. Pupils have frequent practice in reading high frequency words with irregular spellings – common exception words.

We make sure that pupils read books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and the common exception words. This is so that, early on, they experience success and gain confidence that they are readers. Re-reading and discussing these books with the teacher supports their increasingly fluent decoding.

Alongside this, the teachers read a wide range of stories, poetry and non-fiction to pupils.

Staff teaching Read Write Inc. Phonics carry out assessments, which take place every six weeks. This data allows us to intervene in different ways. For instance, we quickly move pupils to another group if they are progressing faster than their peers. Those who continue to struggle have one-to-one tutoring so that they keep up.