Early Reading and Phonics
At Quest Primary School, we are determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. From the start of when our nursery children begin, we teach skills, knowledge, and attitudes with a love of reading at the heart of our curriculum, with books at the heart of learning. We instil a love of reading by sharing stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction books linked to the learning taking place or through the children’s interests.
We also provide regular story times (including Book Club) where children learn the skills to explain, retrieve, interpret what they have read and has been read to them. This helps the pupils’ to develop vocabulary, language comprehension and love of reading.
Daily teaching of reading is in a systematic and structured way, following the Read Write Inc approach. Reading books are sequenced so that there is a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge. Children have opportunities during the sessions to practice reading and re-reading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences. These books are then sent home so that they can consolidate reading.
Our systematic, synthetic phonics programme is taught from the beginning of the Nursery, where they focus on learning listening skills, rhyme, alliteration, orally blending and segmenting. Through our phonics programme, the pupils learning is accelerated by joining phonic sessions taught across the EYFS and KS1. Phonic intervention is continued for KS2 pupils, where required.
Please click on the links below to find out how we teach reading and phonics at our school.
For further information on Read Write Inc and how to pronounce the sounds. Please click on the links below:-
Targeted support through RWI interventions and Precision teaching is given to pupils needing additional support. When pupils have completed the RWI programme they continue through KS2 on the Accelerated Reader programme. The school has developed expertise in the teaching of phonics and reading through the Phonics leader, English team and EYFS & KS1/KS2 Assistant Principals. Regular training is provided to staff and parental guidance and workshops take place.
Read Write Inc. Phonics teaches children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. They learn to form each letter, spell correctly, and compose their ideas step-by-step.
Read Write Inc (RWI) is a consistent, rigorous and dynamic literacy programme to teach EVERY child to read.
Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions:
Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about
Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning
Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability
Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning
Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.