Reading and Phonics
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. At Springhill Primary Academy, we truly believe that reading provides a ticket to access an enriching curriculum and a bright and successful future.
Within the Reading National Curriculum there are two main foci; ‘decoding’ words and being able to comprehend and understand what is being read.
Phonics
Here at Springhill Primary Academy we use Read Write Inc. Phonics, a very popular and successful literacy programme to ensure that these two foci are being delivered securely from a very early age. This is delivered in Reception and Y1. This way of teaching phonics equips the children with the tools they need to decode texts.
At Springhill Primary Academy, a child will learn to read in a very simple way. He or she will learn to:
1. Read the letters by using their ‘sounds’
2. Blend these sounds into word
3. Read the words in a story
The sounds which provide the children with the tools to read are split into three groups:
1. Set 1 sounds are sounds written with one letter.
2. Set 2 sounds (ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar, or, air, ir, ou, oy)
3. Set 3 sounds (ea, oi, a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, aw, are, ur, er, ow, ai, oa, ew, ire, ear, ure)
Your child will be taught to say the sound for the letter and not the letter name to begin with. Some children will also benefit from our focused and targeted interventions to further support the development of their early reading.
Useful Phonics Websites For Parents:
Guided Reading
In Year 2 onwards, children are introduced to ‘Guided Reading’, which occurs once a week for a full learning session. The premise surrounding Guided Reading ensures that all children take part in a guided group led by a skilled practitioner and also that they are provided with an opportunity to apply their learning independently during a related task. Quite often, the Guided Reading sessions are linked to the wider context of learning. Guided Reading learning is linked to writing at all times as we believe that ‘reading is the breathing in and writing is the breathing out.’
However, we also endeavour to promote a love of reading across our school and curriculum. We do this by providing plenty of opportunities for children to engage with and reflect on a range of texts. This is done:
- within the classroom
- through visits to our impressive school library
- by reading with our local reading volunteers from Rotary Club
- by inviting published authors in to interact with our children
- through text-led enriching ‘mini missions’ in line with our school’s pedagogical approach
- at least one whole school mini mission based on a rich and stimulating text
- celebrating World Book Day
- running school book fairs
The children are then able to use their learnt sounds to spell (encode) words and apply this to their writing. Often words and sentences are built phonetically by using the sounds they are familiar with in order to convey their meaning.
