Early Reading and Phonics
READING
At Wyborne, we are passionate about reading. We strive to enable all children to become competent readers, who are able to not only read for a purpose but also read for pleasure. Our pupils are immersed in an environment that of rich challenging texts and our English curriculum stems from the study of carefully selected core texts aimed at exposing the children to a range of genres throughout their time at Wyborne.
We aim to develop fluent, independent and confident readers well-prepared for their move to secondary education. Children are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live; to establish an appreciation and passion for reading; to gain knowledge across the curriculum; and to develop their inference and comprehension skills. We are committed to providing vocabulary-rich, challenging and enjoyable reading material for all of our pupils.
We ensure that reading is at the forefront of our curriculum and that it is celebrated from Early Years through to Year 6. High quality texts that cover a range of themes, topics and cultures are part of our daily routine throughout the school. A multi-layered approach is the most effective means of achieving high standards in reading. We believe that the development of reading cannot be seen in isolation from writing, speaking and listening/drama. The best readers are the best writers – we read as writers and write as readers! Therefore, our core text approach forms an integral part of our reading and writing curriculum.
Reading is taught in English lessons as well as group, guided reading sessions, which take place daily in EYFS and KS1 and whole class reading lessons in KS2. These sessions provide children with access to a range of high-quality texts. In Reception and Year 1, the children read decodable books matched to their phonic understanding. In Year 2, teachers work with each group weekly on texts suitable for the development of reading skills of the children. In KS2, a wide variety of texts and genres are used as a basis for Whole Class Reading lessons. Every classroom has an inviting reading area, from which all children can borrow books to read for pleasure at home. Teachers read aloud to the class daily during sessions devoted to our ‘class reads’ where the books selected engage and inspire children, and regularly during English lessons.
EARLY READING AND PHONICS
Phonics forms the foundations of teaching children to become independent readers. While children are learning to read, they move through Phonic Phases. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised systematic phonics program to explicitly teach the sounds related to each letter or combination of letters and learn how to apply this knowledge when reading. Both the reading and spelling of tricky or exception words are also taught so that children are encouraged to recognise these words on sight.
Please click below to view Reading and Phonics Resources.
| Capital Letters | Grapheme | Little Wandle | Overview |
| Phonics Sounds | Pronunciation | Pronunciation Guide | Reading Update for Parents |
Click here to view our Phonics and Early Reading presentation.