Reading and Phonics
Reading and Phonics
Developing a love of reading is the single most powerful attribute that can make a difference to our children’s future success. Teaching our children to read is not enough – they must learn to enjoy it. With this in mind, our aim is to create a passionate reading community, which encourages our children to develop a love of reading and books.
Reading and phonics
Here at Harrington Hill, reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We recognise that reading is one of the most important skills your child will learn at school and serves as a foundation for all other learning. We believe that teaching our children to read is not enough – we want your child to love reading and want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure the children develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.
How is reading taught?
In Reception and Key Stage 1, reading is taught through daily phonics lessons using the ‘Read Write Inc’ phonics programme. The programme begins by teaching children individual sounds and providing them with the tools to blend and decode words, before building fluency.
More information can be found here:
Once the RWI programme has been completed (usually by Year 2), children move on to Hackney’s Destination Reader programme. This approach to teaching reading focuses on:
- Key reading strategies, which support comprehension
- Learning behaviours, which support pupil talk
Daily sessions include whole class modelling prior to the children applying these skills through partner work and independent reading.
Developing a love for reading
From Nursery to Year 6, we have a book-based curriculum where learning in other subjects is linked to carefully chosen, high quality texts. Children are immersed in these texts as part of their daily English lessons but also through regular story time.
To further enrich reading in our school, we host book fairs, reading breakfasts and arrange regular visits to our local libraries – just to name a few. We also have our very own reading champions who are always thinking of innovative ways to further improve reading at Harrington Hill. Recently, they worked closely with our premises team to design and build a reading shed for the playground!
Home reading
We encourage children to read regularly with support from home and welcome feedback through a home school reading diary.
Starting in Nursery, children take home a ‘book to share’ (a free-choice picture book from their class book corner) This book will not be matched to your child’s reading ability and is a book that should be shared and enjoyed with parents and carers at home.
When children begin the RWI programme they will take home a RWI storybook and a matching book bag book (these are in addition to their ‘book to share’). Parents and carers should be able to listen to children read these books independently as these books are phonetically decodable and matched carefully to your child’s phonics knowledge.
At the end of phonics, moving into KS2 children take home a levelled home reader and a free choice book.
What can parents and carers do to help at home?
Your child will bring different sorts of books home from school. It helps if you know whether this is a book that your child can read on their own or whether this is a book that you should read to them. The teacher will have explained which is which.
Help your child to sound out the letters in words and then to ‘push’ the sounds together to make a whole word. Try not to refer to the letters by their names. Help your child to focus on the sounds. You can hear how to say the sounds correctly at this link: https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/#lg=1&slide=2
Speed Sounds Practice Sheets
Click on the link to download the speed sound practice sheets for each set to use with your child at home.
Set 1 Speed Sound Practice Sheets