Early Reading and Phonics
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader!
At Bowesfield Primary we believe reading underpins all other aspects of learning and is of vital importance. Reading has a high status at Bowesfield Primary School, with the successes from children and their progress regularly celebrated. We believe that strong reading skills are the foundation for success in later life, preparing children to be aspirational in their goals for the future.
We are determined that every child will learn to read, regardless of background, needs or abilities. We want our children to be fluent, confident readers. They will be exposed to a wealth of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction to develop their vocabulary, language comprehension and a genuine love of reading across a range of texts. We work to inspire them to become life-long readers who enjoy books and have a desire to read for pleasure.
Early Reading focuses on a combination of oral language, which is built through ‘back and forth’ conversations, turn taking, exposure to a wide range of words to build vocabulary, and to exposure to songs, rhymes, books and stories, including establishing regular reading routines. Oral skills work in combination with engaging, high quality, phonics teaching and regular, daily opportunities for developing reading and writing skills across the curriculum.
At Bowesfield Primary School every child’s phonics journey begins in the early years. At Bowesfield we follow ‘Read Write Inc’ synthetic phonics programme. To prepare in nursery we learn early phonics skills by playing with and exploring sound, and equip children with core listening and sound discrimination skills required for success in reading and writing as they grow. Children learn a variety of skills, including tuning into environmental sounds, exploring alliteration, singing and playing with rhyme, making sound patterns and orally segmenting and blending words.
Once this is completed we consistently implement the Read Write Inc, synthetic phonics programme the term before they start Reception, if ready, and throughout their time in Reception and Key Stage 1, with strong teaching of the core skills required for children’s knowledge to become autonomous and enabling pupils to read and write with confidence, for a range of purposes in everyday life and most importantly to develop a lifelong love of reading.