At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. We have recently implemented our new phonics and early reading scheme in Spring term 2022 called Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. This scheme is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme which begins in Nursery/Reception and follows the Little Wandle Letter and Sounds Revised progression ensuring all children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. By the time our children leave us, they can read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure.

In February 2022, we held parent meetings to introduce our new phonics and early reading scheme; we were pleased that they were well attended, but for anyone who was unable to attend or wishes to access the information shared again, we have the following links and downloads available to help you to support your child with reading:

Phase 2 sounds - Reception Autumn 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZtjFIvA_fs&feature=emb_logo

Phase 2 sounds - Reception Autumn 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDu3JAjf-U0

Phase 3 sounds - Reception Spring 1 

https://youtu.be/DvOuc7cWXxc  

Quick guide to Alien words

https://youtu.be/VtoJZMVgy1I 

How we teach tricky words

https://youtu.be/NTC0PbtmeUA

How we teach blending 

https://youtu.be/IL5YUCPyC5I

Parent Videos

Below you can find some useful videos showing how the new scheme is being taught in schools so that you can and feel confident about supporting your child at home.

You can view them here.

Our Reading Vision :

‘The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page’

(Rachel Anders)

Intent

At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School, we intend to instil the “St Peter’s Spirit” in all our children. The teaching of phonics and reading in particular encourages our children to value the importance of: 

Inspiration, Inquisitiveness and Perseverance  

as they explore the world of books and reading while applying their skills to become lifelong readers. 

We value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers. We believe reading is key for academic success and our intent is to promote the following:  

• To foster a love of reading and enjoy reading for pleasure 
• To develop curious learners who read confidently and fluently and seek to acquire knowledge independently 
• Give our children the reading skills they need to access all areas of the curriculum. 

At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton, we consider ourselves a community of readers. Therefore, we expect all adults to model and communicate their love of reading in the following ways: 

• Story time 

• Opportunities for silent reading time  

• Shared and guided/whole class reading 

• Providing exciting reading areas that inspire our children to read 

• Reading with the individual children who need our support the most 

We believe that every child should be able to immerse themselves in a book and feel represented, valued and celebrated. 

Implementation

Reading is not just a key part of the English curriculum - it is happening all the time in the classroom. It is taught in specific reading and English lessons, but children are constantly practising their reading skills in the wider curriculum.

Reading is making meaning from print. It requires that children can:

Identify the words in print - a process called word recognition

Construct an understanding from them - a process called comprehension

Coordinate identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and accurate - an achievement called fluency.

From the very beginning of their time with us in Lower Foundation children begin their reading journey, their play is carefully planned so that language skills are developed, book talk is introduced and they are seeing print in real life contexts. The print rich environment encourages children to look at words and the shapes they make whilst the verbal rich environment encourages talk about books, characters and develops understanding. The reading corners in Upper and Lower foundation stage are full of wondrous resources to support early reading for example puppets, small world objects and  range of books. Throughout school each classroom is equipped with an engaging and exciting reading area, where the children can access a range of books from many genres and authors and poets. As children move through EYFS and KS1, they develop their skills in decoding. By the time they reach KS2 most children have mastered their phonics and the balance moves towards making meaning from the text and developing fluency.

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." - Albert Einstein

Impact

A child that reads every day at home and at school is at a huge advantage. Reading as regularly as you can with your child and to your child is a gift that will keep on giving throughout their lifetime as they become an independent and avid reader.

Did you know? If you can’t read 5% of words in a text the meaning becomes lost. This is why it is so important to read with your child to help them overcome unfamiliar or tricky words, so that they understand what they are reading.

Children will move through the reading development and journey at different rates and speeds. Here you can find our progression steps for reading and what a child should be doing in each year group.

Reading every day gives your child so many advantages, they can access not just English lessons but the whole curriculum. It provides confidence and resilience for them as well as development of a key life skill.

If you want to know more about books that are engaging and recommended for your child, you can find 100 to read books for each year group here.

"What is a bookshelf other than a treasure chest for a curious mind”

Phonics

We currently follow Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme for Phonics.