Early Reading at Little Heath Primary School

At Little Heath, we follow the systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) Read Write Inc as our approach to teaching early reading. This programme is taught progressively from the start of Reception until children complete the scheme in Year 2.

Our approach ensures that children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code and are able to master phonics in order to read and spell as they move through school. It is our intent that children are confident to tackle any unfamiliar words when reading, develop stamina and resilience and to improve comprehension across the skills of reading as they move through Little Heath and beyond.

In Reception, children will start by learning Set 1 sounds, linking phonemes (sounds) with graphemes (symbols) and practice blending simple words orally. As they progress, children will start to be able to blend sounds to read words.  

Gradually and in conjunction with pupils’ progressing phonic ability, children will develop through the Read, Write Inc stages throughout Reception and KS1, becoming confident and skilled readers.

The stages of the Read, Write Inc programme are set out into colours, consisting of a variety of fiction and non-fiction books in each coloured stage. Pupils accessing RWI will read a book on a particular stage, closely matched to their phonic ability. Our children are taught each day in smaller, teacher-led groups to learn sounds and reading skills according to their ability which is assessed each half term. To ensure pupils retain their knowledge of phonemes and graphemes, they spend 45 minutes daily on RWI phonics. By the time pupils reach Year Two, they should be confident decoders. In Year Two, children continue their phonic journey to becoming fluent and skilled readers through the RWI Comprehension programme.

Pupils who are not keeping up with their peers and where pupils have not yet mastered the English alphabetic code in Key Stage 2 continue to access the Read Write Inc programme and for those children needing additional support in Years 5 and 6 will be tutored using the Fresh Start programme.