School Curriculum - English (Early Reading)

Intent

At Kirkbymoorside Community Primary, we strive to develop the full potential of all our pupils so they become confident, literate readers. If children are to develop as competent, fluent readers it is essential that they have a secure understanding of letters and sounds. Phonic skills are essential to developing competent and assertive readers. Therefore we use a systematic, synthetic phonics program of RWI and deliver this with a high degree of fidelity. High quality teaching, home-school partnerships, ensuring the books given to children enable them to succeed and early intervention are key components of our reading success.

During their Nursery education, our children are provided with numerous and varied opportunities to hear and say sounds. Staff support this experience by ensuring the modelling of pure sounds at all times.

As children progress through school, they will learn all the 44 sounds and the corresponding letter groups. Pupils will learn the initial letter sounds and their matching graphemes as they progress from Nursery to Reception. They will be explicitly taught the skill of oral blending, which is vital for the initial stages of early reading. Children will rapidly progress to blending sounds together to help them read CVC words. Children will learn digraph and trigraph sounds throughout Early Years and Key Stage 1.

As children become confident at blending sounds, they are taught the skill of blending sounds mentally and at speed. Children will be exposed to ‘alien’ words throughout Reception and Year 1. This consistent and rigorous approach will provide our children with the foundations to become enthused readers with a passion for storytelling, literature and vocabulary.

In Early Years, children take part in daily phonics lessons, guided reading sessions and read an individual book banded at the appropriate level to an adult during the week. Phonics teaching from Reception, follows the RWI phonics programme.  Opportunities for embedding this learning will be within areas of provision.

>Curriculum Overview