What happens before formal phonics is taught? In Nursery we immerse children in activities providing opportunities to tune into sounds.

There are six aspects taught:

1. Environmental Sounds
2. Instrumental Sounds
3. Body Percussion
4. Rhythm and Rhyme
5. Alliteration
6. Voice Sounds 

All the aspects are taught through group times and total immersion in a rich language environment. We aim to do this by providing a totally immersive nursery experience with lots of rhymes, singing time, rhyming stories, clapping rhythms, musical instruments taught through play at every opportunity.  Informal ways to explore letters: e.g. sand moulds, sounds of the week, phonics awareness through modelling writing, or sounding out words. 

We also use short discrete group times to model a variety of activities with all 6 aspects taught during the week and use carefully chosen books every day to over learn rhyming words and voice sounds. We encourage children to join in, especially with the repetitive parts to build confidence and learn. 

During the Spring Term pupils in Nursery will access more formal teaching of phonics through the delivery of the RWI Nursery programme.

In the Early Years, pupils will receive more formal lessons taught using the Read, Write, Inc Synthetic Phonic Programme. All our staff are highly trained and receive regular coaching to deliver this. It is taught daily, systematically both to whole class at the correct phonological stage and to discrete groups. 

It is important that the teaching of reading is matched to the teaching of phonics. As such, all children must have a home RWInc. reading book that matches the sounds they have learnt or are learning in their phonics lessons. Families are encouraged to read daily at home and record in their online reading diaries at least 5 times per week.

• Children will enter Reception having been immersed in opportunities to tune in to sounds.
• At the end of Autumn term, most children will be able to read CVC words and sight words by speed and labels.
• At the end of Spring term, most children will be able to read the Set 1 Green sounds and words and irregular words, labels and captions. They will be beginning to read Set 2 Purple sounds and words.
• At the end of the Summer Term, most children will be able to read the sentences with Set 2 Purple sounds and words and decode regular words. Some will be able to decode regular words of more than one syllable.

• All children should enter year 1 with knowledge of some of the Set 2 Purple sounds and words.
• At the end of the Autumn Term, most children will be secure at Set 2 Orange and be ready to start Set 3 Yellow.
• At the end of the Spring Term, most children will have completed Set 4 Orange.
• At the end of the Summer Term, most children will be secure at Set 5 Yellow and will be beginning to look at spelling patterns.

• A Year 2 child at ARE will have completed RWI Sets 1 to 3 prior to starting.
• Year 2 pupils will continue to receive daily phonics teaching in groups based on phonics assessments. Most children who enter Year 2 should be reading a book on the Accelerated Reader Programme . 
• The emphasis now moves onto grammar, punctuation and spelling ready for the GPS SATs assessment.
• Those children who are falling behind the expected standard will continue to receive targeted phonics intervention in order to bridge the gap.

• A commitment to linking reading with writing
• Shared Reading, using a big book or text on the interactive whiteboard, with small groups or the whole class
• Guided Reading of the same text in small groups, including teaching a range of reading strategies and comprehension
• Oxford Owl online reading platform
• Daily phonics lessons using Read, Write Inc
• Phonics intervention groups lead by skilled teaching assistants in each class where needed for the bottom 20% readers
• Reading of texts linked to topic work
• Daily ‘Class Reader’ in which the class teacher reads stories to the class to promote a love of reading and model fluency
• Library visits, including the class and school library
• Attractive reading areas around school
• Books promoted around school   
• World Book Day involving local authors, booksellers, poets, storytellers and a range of book related activities
• Extra activities to raise the profile of reading, linked to different themes.

In Key Stage 2 children learn to become fluent readers with increasingly growing comprehension skills. Children who are in a learning gap are given significant support through daily RWInc or Fresh Start interventions that are targeted to their ability and gaps.

These sessions follow a structured weekly cycle. Teachers select texts that will immerse the pupils in their next genre for writing 2 weeks prior to starting. This will ensure a range of text types are covered and will strengthen the link between our approach of Reading as a Writer and Writing as a Reader.

The Sequence:

Day 1: Oracy focus from the core writing text

Day 2: VIPERS

Day 3: VIPERS

Day 4: VIPERS

Day 5: Reading comprehension focus from the core writing text

Formative and summative assessments are used to inform the planning and teaching of reading. We use weekly reading comprehensions, Year 2 and 6 SATs and termly PIRA assessments from Years 1 – 6. These are analysed using MARK online and Shine Interventions are used for pupils identified as a result of this analysis. Children complete half-termly STAR Reader Tests to provide an accurate picture of their ZPD (zone of proximal development) and reading age.

All pupils are read to by an enabling adult on a daily basis during ‘Class Reader’ time. This time is protected as we believe it is vital in developing a love of reading and the will to read independently and by choice. In these daily sessions, staff read aloud books at a higher level than the ability of the pupils to the whole class. They read with passion and excellent fluency modelling what makes a good reader. Staff select books that promote cultural capital and engage the interests of the pupils they teach.