Phonics
Brookfield Junior Academy Phonics & Early Reading
Intent
“Teach a child to read and keep that child reading and we will change everything. And I mean everything” Jean Winterson.
This quote epitomises the intent of the Read Write Inc. programme at Brookfield Junior Academy. We want children to learn to read quickly and accurately and to then keep on reading. We want children to see reading not only as a task set by teachers in school but as an activity which provides pleasure and escape from the modern world.
- We aim to ensure every child is able to read at age related expectation, regardless of their background, needs or abilities.
- We aim to ensure all pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations.
- We aim to ensure the teaching of reading develops pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and a love of reading.
- We aim to ensure pupils have the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of exciting stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction.
Implementation
- To ensure all staff to have clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress term by term from Foundation to Year 2.
- To ensure the sequence of reading books show a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge directly matched to RWI.
- To ensure pupils’ have sufficient practise in reading and re-reading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both at school and home.
- To ensure reading, including the teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics, is taught from the beginning of Foundation.
- To ensure that Phonics is consolidated and practised throughout the day. (In provision, On the portal and pinny time)
- To ensure ongoing assessment of phonics progress is rigorous to identify any pupils’ who are behind the programmes pace and targeted support is given immediately.
- To ensure all staff within the school are trained to deliver high quality and consistent phonics lessons by daily coaching from the Reading Leader.
- To ensure parents have a clear understanding of phonics and Early Reading via Parent Workshops.
Impact
- All children to be reading fluently by the end of Key Stage 1.
- All children to read an age appropriate book with 90% accuracy.
- All pupils reading a range of texts and developing a love of reading.
- Parents and carers all have a clear understanding of Phonics and Early Reading.
Phonics
Children are introduced to Read, Write Inc Phonics when they are reading in Nursery alongside Phase 1 Phonics. They begin by learning the pictures to match each sound. As the children move into reception they complete a baseline assessment and are then grouped accordingly ready to begin formal phonics teaching during the first week of reception. Read, write Inc sessions occur daily with no exceptions across EYFS and KS1.
Children working on the Read, Write Inc phonics programme take home the text they have been learning in their Phonics group and the corresponding Read, Write Inc book bag book.
Both books are matched directly to their phonic ability. For those children who have not exited the programme. For children who need extra support Read, Write Inc daily tuition is put into place as a matter of priority.
As the children move through the programme, they are assessed and grouped half termly by the reading depending on their Phonic ability. This assessment is also used to inform Read, Write Inc daily interventions. However, Phonics is monitored daily by the Phonics Teachers and Leader and groups are fluid according to how children are progressing.
Early Reading
At Brookfield Junior Academy we send home Book Bag Books which are part of the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme developed by Ruth Miskin. The programme is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and keen writers. The book bag books are engaging texts to support children with additional reading practice outside the classroom. They have been specifically designed for children to take home after school, in order to share their reading journey and celebrate their achievements with parents and carers. The books are closely matched to the existing Read Write Inc. Phonics Storybooks to reinforce children’s classroom learning of phonics at the appropriate level, helping them to make even faster progress in reading.
Before children can take home a RWI book bag book they must be able to recognise all set 1 sounds.
The order of the books ranges from Purple blending books to Grey and are available in fiction from Red to Orange and Fiction and Non fiction from Yellow to Grey.
Once the child is a fluent Grey reader they will go on to the Oxford Reading Tree banded books.
By the end of Foundation Stage children at the ‘expected’ level will be reading a Green/purple RWI book fluently. Children who achieve the ‘exceeded’ grade will be reading a Pink book or above.
By the end of Year 1 children at age related expectations (ARE) will be reading a Grey RWI book with 100% accuracy.
By the end of Year 2 children at ARE will be reading White (Oxford Reading Tree)
The children will complete a ‘Read and Repeat’ cycle. This means each week each child will take home:
- 1 taught sound blending/ditty/Story book
- 1 book bag book/This will increase to 2 books at Blue level where children will receive a non fiction book as well as fiction.
- 1 ‘reading for pleasure’ book for parents/ carers to read to them to help develop a love of reading
Each child will also take home a record of their ‘red words’ in their planners, which are banded into the correct RWI colour book. These words cannot be sounded out phonetically and do not follow any particular phonemic rule.
Children use the phrase “You can’t Fred a red” Staff will listen to individual readers and when they hear children reading the red words correctly they will record this on their individual sheet. Parents have all been made aware of this system and can use the record to practise unfamiliar red words at home.
It is the class teacher’s responsibility to hear pupils read and monitor progress alongside support from the Reading Lead.
The RWI Reading Leader:
- oversees the assessment of all Reception & Key Stage 1 pupils and designate pupils to the correct groups.
- oversees the assessment of all KS2 children who have Phonics as an intervention
- provides RWI teachers with a list of graphemes that their group requires consolidation of.
- assigns RWI teachers to RWI groups.
- ‘drops in’ on RWI groups to give advice and to check that pupils are in the correct groups through learning walks and scrutiny of work.
- does not have her own reading group, assesses, models and coaches RWI teachers keeping record through a practice map.
- runs practice sessions weekly.
- Liases with the Principal regarding groupings, teaching spaces and other relevant matters.
- organises regular workshops with parents and advertises strategies to support children on social media and via email.
- liaises with class teachers to discuss the progress of children in RWI.
- provides class teachers with a report on children’s RWI grouping, any sounds needed to be consolidated and also any additional comments.
- ensures a statement about a child’s reading ability is written and included in the child’s end of year report.
What is Read Write Inc?
What is RWI? - This link will take you to a parent video to explain.
All the GREEN words, decodable words, parental support and books used in phonics can be found below in the attached files.
For our GREEN words we can decode the word using Fred Talk.
This is Fred the frog who only talks in sounds.
You can buy your own Fred the Frog on the link below
Below is a parent link to introduce parents to sound blending:
Set 1 Sounds
Set 2 Sounds
You can buy your own pack of set 1sounds here:
You can buy your pack of set 2/3 sounds here:
There are 3 parents packs to buy
Early sounds and blending pack
More sounds and blending pack
Becoming a reader pack
If you have any questions about how Phonics and Early Reading is taught within school or how to further support your children at home please do not hesitate to contact Miss Crook (Reading & phonics Lead lisa.crook@brookfieldjunioracademy.org)