Synthetic phonics is taught systematically throughout the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and early reading focuses on ensuring our children can read accurately and with automaticity, whilst also paying attention to the timing, intonation and phrasing required to make the children expressive readers.

Daily shared, guided, reading practice or independent reading sessions, led by the teachers and support staff, teach children how to read and to comprehend what they read. Once children have mastered reading accurately and fluently, they are taught to deepen their understanding of what they read; to build the necessary skills that proficient readers use to make sense of challenging texts – to retrieve, to infer, to summarise, to predict, to clarify, to make connections and to visualise.

We use robust assessment procedures to regularly check progress and identify children who are in danger of falling behind in order to ensure they receive the correct intervention.

We have an ever growing range of phonically decodable books for the children to access throughout the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 which are aligned to their daily phonics lessons. These books enable children to make the necessary progress in their reading using a phonics only approach to decode words. Our children are encouraged to read regularly at home in order to further develop their automaticity and expression. The home reading books are also phonically decodable so the children can practise their reading skills at home.

As children become more confident and fluent readers and move away from the phonically decodable books, we have a vast range of other books which are organised based on difficulty. Children access texts, in small groups, which inspire them to read.  Teachers choose these books carefully, considering whether pupils will enjoy the books as well as whether they will be able to successfully read them.  This enables children to make further progress in the reading and understanding of texts.

From year 4 onwards children are taught reading as a whole class, using Talk for Reading approaches. Across each year, children have the opportunity to read and respond to poetry, picture books, narrative and non-fiction texts. Every lesson offers opportunities for children to read, with opportunities to develop fluency through the use of choral and echo reading. At least once per week, teachers listen to individual children read. Where children have not sufficiently mastered fluency, they are supported through additional intervention reading opportunities. If children’s written skills make responding in writing challenging, their tasks are appropriately adapted. Where children are working below expectations and are not able access the whole class reading curriculum, alternative provision will be made (utilising phonically decodable and book banded texts).

Our children are encouraged to read widely and for different purposes.  Teachers read a range of texts including stories, poetry and non-fiction to children throughout the year and a dedicated reading aloud session, purely for enjoyment, is planned into every day.  A dedicated book club session is planned weekly for adults to promote books and for children to recommend books to each other

Phonics and Early Reading Policy

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