Intent
By the time children leave St George’s CE School, they leave as readers. Readers who have developed a lifelong love of reading; and readers who read because it is how they can learn more about the world around them. Once the children leave St George’s, we will have provided them with the tools to fully and confidently access the secondary curriculum and we firmly believe that the ability to read underpins all other areas of learning.
At St George’s, we feel that phonics is the first stepping stone to a lifelong love of reading.
Implementation
In Reception and KS1, children are taught using RWI phonics; in groups best suited to meet their individual needs. Within these sessions, pupils gain confidence in recognising, blending and segmenting sounds; in order to read and spells words independently. At the end of Year 1, Government guidance requires pupils to complete a National Phonics Screening test.
Our aim is that by the end of the Autumn term in Year 2, children will have achieved the requirements of the RWI phonics scheme. However, we still have the capacity to continue should any pupil need additional support. Children then progress to developing their fluency and comprehension skills further. At the end of Year 2, children across the country complete a SATs reading paper. This supports a teacher’s judgement about whether a pupil has achieved age related expectations and, if not, how we can further support our pupils in doing so.
Following the success of RWI Phonics, we introduced RWI Comprehension. This scheme enables children to make a smoother transition from simply reading words to comprehending a piece of text.
