We believe every child should have a flying start when learning to read. This is why we use the phonics scheme Read Write Inc. This scheme teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Phonics includes reading books written using only the letters they have learnt at each level (and a small number of separately taught tricky words, which we call red words).

Daily RWI lessons teach children the fundamental skills to enable them to become fluent readers. The children work in small groups, which we assess regularly to ensure all learning is appropriately challenging. These groups are adapted where necessary in order to match the pace and progress of each child.

Speed Sounds and Read Write Inc. Reading Stages

In Reception, your child will learn to read the Set 1 sounds by sight. They will also learn how to blend them together to read words e.g. c-a-t = cat.

In Year 1 and Year 2, they will then move onto learning to Set 2 and Set 3 sounds. 

Before your child can start to read, they need to learn to: 

• Say the sound that is represented by each letter or groups of letters. These are called ‘speed sounds’. 
• Know how to blend the sounds together in a word to read it e.g. c-a-t = cat. This is called ‘sound- blending’. 

Here is a video showing how we blend with Fred, our Phonics frog - Blending with Fred

Nonsense Words

As well as learning to read and blend real words, children will have daily opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.  These words provide endless opportunities for children to apply and practice their thinking in a range of different contexts. 

Red and Green Words

Within all the RWI sessions/books children will be exposed to red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not decodable.  Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.

Home Reading

We want children to create a strong orthographic map. This means that they learn sounds spelt by the letters or groups of letters in each word. To read fluently, or well, we need a strong orthographic map. To consistently recognise that the <ea> in bread spells /e/ we need to read it at least 4 times. This means we need to read the word many times to build fluency for reading.

Your child will bring home a phonically decodable book matched to the sounds they have been learning in the classroom.

They will also bring home a book from their classroom library.

Share and enjoy these books with your child. There are further activities and questions within the back pages of these books. 

In particular, we want your child to practise reading their bookbag book 3 times across the week, working on these skills:

• decoding - the process of working out how to say (‘‘sounding out’’) a written word.
• fluency - quickly recognising the sounds within a word to read with appropriate speed and accuracy.
• expression - reading with feeling and intonation (not sounding like a robot!). An example of this is if your child is reading a question, they need to make their voice sound like they are asking a question.

Tips for reading at home:

• Do not read the book aloud before your child reads it to you.
• Ask your child to read the sounds and words before he or she reads the story.
• When your child reads the story, ask him or her to sound out the words that he or she can’t read automatically.
• Don’t allow your child to struggle too much. Praise your child when he or she succeeds.
• Read back each sentence or page to keep the plot moving. (Your child’s energy is going into reading the words not the story.)
• Do not ask your child to guess the word by using the pictures.
• Do it all with patience and love!