Reading, Phonics and Spelling

Reading, phonics and spelling is bespoke to your child’s stage of learning and development. Starting in the Nursery, children are assessed by Mrs Banks, our Reading Leader to establish the correct reading band and group.Assessments then take place at least every six weeks, or more frequently for accelerated learners or those children requiring additional support.

The daily RWI group lesson includes reading, spelling, handwriting, grammar and comprehension. In Years One, Two, Three and Four, there is an additional afternoon lesson to consolidate sound recognition and speed of reading.

For the bottom 20% of readers within each year group, catch-up is provided through one-to-one tutoring and a bespoke reading programme is drawn up and managed by Mrs Banks. These children are closely monitored in their progress, with the scheduling of fortnightly assessments. Families of these children are strongly encouraged to come into school to discuss their child's progress with Mrs Banks and seek advice about how to help at home.

To promote a love of reading children will  learn through: 

• Read, Write, Inc. ( to ensure every child has a secure phonetic understanding and is a confident reader). Children are taught in small RWI colour banded groups across EYFS and KS1 
• Pathways to Write (Language to Literacy Group)
• Accelerated Reader / STAR Reader
• Read, Write, Inc. Spelling (Language to Literacy Group)
• Voice 21
• Reading Fluency lessons / Talking through Stories (Reading fluency & vocabulary building)
• We listen to children read at least twice a week and for those children requiring additional support this is increased to daily reading with their teacher. 
• Daily teacher reading to their class
• Reading across the curriculum / Curriculum library
• Reading for pleasure 

RWI teachers send links on Class Dojo for the practising of sounds and reading of  E-books every week. Teachers can remind you of your child's unique user name and password to log in to the oxford owl website. 

RWI Book bag books / Accelerated Reader books are also provided at the end of each week. These books are carefully selected to link to the sounds and words taught in each child's RWI lessons throughout that week in school. 

Read, Write, Inc

At Grove Street Primary School we use Read, Write, Inc phonics to support our teaching and learning of reading. 

What is Read Write Inc? - Watch this video to find out how the programme works.

Our dedicated teachers and TAs have been trained to teach lessons using a specific format to ensure that your children are given the best start to their reading journey. We began our Read Write Inc journey back in October 2018 and the impact on our children has been phenomenal. 

We start by introducing Set 1 sounds.

How to say the sounds correctly - Watch this video to hear how each sound should be prononced.

We also use Fred Talk and Fred Talk games to build up your child's blending skills. (At the bottom of this page you will find a link to some Fred Talk games and stories that we use in school).

Fred Talk - Watch this video to see how to use Fred Talk. 

As your children build up their sound recognition skills they can begin to blend the sounds together to read words. 

Sound blending - Watch this video to see how sounds can blend togther to make words. 

As your child's confidence grows they can begin to use their knwoledge to spell words using Fred Fingers.

Fred Fingers - Watch this video to see Fred Fingers in action.

Read Write Inc also provides simple rhymes to support your child in writing the letters correctly. Please find a copy of these rhymes at the bottom of this page. 

Your child will move through the following stages during their time on the RWI programme:

 By the end of Reception we aim for your child to be working at the Green or Purple stage.

Find out more information here RWI parent guide

You can also find some more RWI videos and support on our Reception Class YouTube Channel

EYFS Literacy

Here are the current learning expectations for Literacy at the end of EYFS -

Reading: Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate an understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

Writing: Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

From September 2020 we will be working towards the new Early Learning Goals for Literacy at the end of EYFS -

Comprehension

• Demonstrate understanding of what they have read and has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and new vocabulary;
• Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems;
• Use new vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play.

Word Reading

• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs;
•  Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending;
• Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including common exception words.

Writing

• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed;
• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters;
• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

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