Our phonics teaching begins in early years and follows a government supported scheme called Read Write Inc. This phonic scheme runs from Early Years, through to Yr. 1 with children needing phonic support in Yr 2 and 3 still having these sessions. In Nursery, the children begin their journey with a love of story and when they are ready, begin to learn initial sounds.

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The RW Inc scheme allows the child to learn the initial sounds and then begin to blend with them. As soon as the child is able to blend confidently they move onto reading simple sentences, then short books. Gradually, the level of book increases in difficulty as the child learns more and more complicated sounds and the letters or groups of letters that make these sounds. As well as allowing the child to learn all the ways of making certain sounds, Read Write Inc. gives the child opportunity to complete comprehension tasks as well as written tasks. The scheme is based upon getting the child to enjoy, and be confident with, reading and writing. 

 

The children are assessed every six to eight weeks so that they are always grouped within the correct phonic level of ability. Also, the teacher can report to the Read Write Inc. manager whenever they have a concern that a child may need to move into a different group. This allows movement between assessment cycles. The child's needs are of utmost importance. If a child is falling behind their age related expectations, interventions are put in place to allow the child to catch up.

 

One of the key features of the scheme is that the child is taught in small groups. Again, this is to maximise the speed of learning. Therefore, a parent may find their child grouped with children from different year groups rather than age group. Read Write Inc. works around phonic ability, not age.

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Blending:

Children learn to read words by blending the letter/sounds that are in the Speed Sound sets. You can help your child to read words by sound-blending (Fred Talk) e.g. c-a-t= cat. In RWI we use pure sounds. This means removing the ‘uh’ from the sounds. There is also a ‘Parent Tutorial Sound Blending Video’ that may be helpful for you to look at:

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