Phonics and Reading

Phonics

At Regents Park Community Primary School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. We start teaching phonics in Nursery/Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school. 

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing across all subjects. 

We teach phonics through a whole class approach which allows all children to keep up with age related expectations. Interventions are put in place for children who need additional phonics support so they can keep up with their peers. 

Reading

We want our children to foster a lifelong love of books and reading throughout their primary school life and way beyond. We immerse our children in the wonders of quality texts to instil a love of reading, passion for discovery and a confidence to explore their imagination. We value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time, children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary and we encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose. 

How we teach Reading

Reading at Regents Park Community Primary School is taught in a number of ways:

• Phonics intervention either 1:1 or in a group 
• Reading Practice Lessons across EYFS and KS1 
• Whole Class Reading in KS2 (Additional Reading Practice for the lowest 20%)
• Reading for Pleasure
• Daily story time where teachers read aloud to their class

In EYFS and KS1, we teach our children to read through Reading Practice sessions three times a week using books matched to their secure phonics knowledge. Each reading session has a clear focus: decoding, prosody (reading with understanding and expression) and comprehension (understanding the text). Children in KS2 who need additional reading support are taught in this way too. Children are provided with the same reading practice book to take home, so they can share this with their parents. These decodable books are also available online for the children to access through Collins Ebooks. 

In KS2, reading is taught as a whole class at least three times a week. These whole class reading sessions will focus on a specific reading skill linked to our Reading Skills. Teachers plan activities to develop children's word reading, comprehension and enjoyment of reading using whole texts, non-fiction and poetry. Weekly group reading is also timetabled in KS2 for those children who are fluent readers but need extra support with prosody and comprehension. Class teachers plan for extra Reading Practice using age-appropriate books. 

All children have access to the school library and take books home to read for pleasure. Children in Year 2 and KS2 also have access to Accelerated Reader

See our overviews for more information.