At KPNS, we believe that reading is the key to all learning, and we are fully committed to making sure that every child loves reading and is a confident reader by the end of Key Stage One (Year Two).

In 2023, 91 % of pupils passed the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

We follow Read Write Inc right from the start of a child's journey through school, which ensures that reading is taught in a systematic, discrete way with phonics as the prime approach to teaching early reading.

                                                                         What is Read Write Inc Phonics?

Read Write Inc. is a DfE validated phonics scheme designed by Ruth Miskin, which through systematic teaching and consistent routines, enables ALL children to achieve high levels of reading success.

Who teaches RWI Phonics?

We have a dedicated team of teachers and teaching assistants who have all received RWI phonics training. They are passionate about achieving success and take part in regular practice meetings for coaching and training purposes. The scheme is overseen by the Reading Leader, who will monitor RWI sessions and ensure that all teaching is high quality and that children are focused and engaged. We also work closely with the Literacy Hub to ensure that our phonics provision is as good as it can be. 

What and When?

• Daily phonics sessions with children grouped according to stage, not age.
• Daily ‘Storybook’ sessions, everyone reads books that match the sounds they know in a group every day.
• Reading books, that match sounds children know, are sent home to be read independently to consolidate learning.
• Children can also take a ‘reading for pleasure’ book to be read with or by an adult to provide a broad and rich reading experience.
• All planning follows the sequence of sounds and blueprint lessons plans from Read Write and use common habits and routines that include:
  • Spotting special friends (identifying digraphs and trigraphs)
  • Fred Talk (saying the sounds individually out loud then blending the word)
  • Fred in your head (saying the sounds individually in your head)Speedy Reading
  • Reading alien words
  • Spelling using Fred Fingers
• Each child is carefully assessed and placed into a RWI group based their phonics sound knowledge and reading skills. This ensures that all children are working at the right level for their ability which is the best way to ensure progress and confidence in their reading skills. Your child might not be taught phonics by their own class teacher however all information and session notes are passed on from their RWI Tutor to enable further guidance and support in all subsequent lessons.
• Children are assessed each half-term using Read Write Inc assessments. This ensures all pupils keep up and that gaps identified are re-taught in phonics sessions, 1:1 tutoring or in partnership with parents. 
• Any children who are not making sufficient progress will be given targeted intervention or additional 1:1 support.
• At the end of Year One all children complete a national Phonics Screen Check. 
• At the end of Year Two all children complete a national curriculum test in English reading, this is known as the Year Two SATs (standard assessment test).

For more information regarding Read Write Inc., click on the link below.

Read Write Inc. – A guide for parents

Fred Talk

At school we use a puppet called Fred who only speaks in sounds. We call this Fred Talk. For example, Fred would say d-o-g, we would say dog. Your child is taught to hear sounds and blend them together to say words.

As your child learns each sound (phoneme), they are also taught to blend the sounds together to say and read CVC words such as mat, sit, pin.

 

Fred Fingers

Fred Fingers are used for spelling. Your child is taught to sound out the word they are spelling and put up the correct number of fingers for the sounds they can hear in the word. For example: m-e-t = 3 sounds = 3 fingers. 

 

 

Green Words

When your child can orally blend sounds to say words, your child will start to read ‘green’ words.  ‘Green’ words are words which can be sounded out and blended.

Red Words

When children start to read short ditties, your child will be taught to read ‘red’ words. These words are words with ‘tricky letters’ which can’t be sounded out phonetically.  Your child will be taught the red words in a specific order, which will correlate with the books they are reading in lessons.

 

 

Click here for more information about how you can help your child with Read, Write, Inc.