Vision Statement 

In English lessons and across the wider curriculum, reading is key and we use exciting and relevant texts in a range of genres to enrich the children’s learning. It is the aim of every teacher at Halsford Park to ensure that their class develop a love of reading, writing and responding to texts, whilst raising standards for every pupil.

We passionately believe reading is the doorway to all learning. Therefore, we want to develop increasingly competent, confident readers who enjoy reading and progress quickly. This includes, but is not exclusively about, having met the Phonic Screening Check Standard in Y1. We want learners to have truly secured their phonics to ensure their fluency in decoding and prevent barriers to reading and writing as they move through our school and the rest of their life-long learning journey.

Phonics

Halsford Park Primary School: Our Approach to Phonics with Read Write Inc.

At Halsford Park Primary School, we are committed to ensuring every child becomes a confident and fluent reader. We achieve this through the Read Write Inc. (RWI) Phonics programme, the UK’s leading synthetic phonics approach developed by Ruth Miskin and published by Oxford University Press.

What is Read Write Inc.?

RWI Phonics is a comprehensive programme designed to teach children from Reception to Year 4 (and older pupils with SEND) the essential skills of reading, spelling, and writing. It incorporates:

• Daily phonics lessons tailored to every child's needs
• Over 300 decodable storybooks via Oxford Owl
• Spelling and writing activities that develop confidence
• Rigorous assessment and tracking to ensure progress

How Does RWI Benefit Our Pupils?

Using RWI Phonics, we will help all children:

• Reach or exceed the expected standard in the national phonics screening check
• Develop reading fluency and comprehension skills
• Spell accurately and write creatively with confidence
• Build cooperative behaviour and articulate ideas clearly

What Makes Our Phonics Teaching Effective?

At Halsford Park, we follow RWI’s steps for success to deliver rigorous and high-quality teaching. We ensure:

• High quality training for staff
• Grouping children effectively to maximize learning during daily phonics sessions
• Partner-based interactive strategies to enhance spoken language and comprehension
• Ongoing support for parents and carers with resources and virtual lessons to reinforce learning at home

With RWI, our pupils develop a lifelong love for reading.  This proven approach ensures that every child at Halsford Park has the best possible foundation for academic success.

Information for Parents

How to say the sounds: 

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/dN1Et5zJ/P05E4tc9 

Understanding Phonics: 

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/jWIOJMWC/ZiCk9pFU

Listening to your child read:

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/jWIOJMWC/ZiCk9pFU

Sound Blending: 

http://schools.ruthmiskin.com/training/view/WaRYgHLS/CNomwiRf

From The National Curriculum in England – framework document – Reading

The programmes of study for reading at key stages 1 and 2 consist of two dimensions:

• word reading
• comprehension (both listening and reading).

It is essential that teaching focuses on developing pupils’ competence in both dimensions; different kinds of teaching are needed for each. Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Underpinning both is the understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words. This is why phonics should be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners (i.e. unskilled readers) when they start school.

Good comprehension draws from linguistic knowledge (in particular of vocabulary and grammar) and on knowledge of the world. Comprehension skills develop through pupils’ experience of high-quality discussion with the teacher, as well as from reading and discussing a range of stories, poems and non-fiction. All pupils must be encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading, and to gain knowledge across the curriculum.

Reading widely and often increases pupils’ vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. Reading also feeds pupils’ imagination and opens up a treasure-house of wonder and joy for curious young minds.

It is essential that, by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.’

How we show the Core Values in Phonics

Reading Achievement Statements

• Links that can be made to the EYFS Early Learning Goals
• Reading Achievement Statements Yr 1-6

Reading Progression across the School

• Reading-progression-EY - Key Stage 1
• Reading-Progression-Key stage 2
• Whole School Key Texts Overview - Halsford Park.docx

Key Reading Expectations Year 1-6

• Key Reading Expectations Year 1
• Key Reading Expectations Year 2
• Key Reading Expectations Year 3 Reading
• Key Reading Expectations Year 4
• Key Reading Expectations Year 5
• Key Reading Expectations Year 6

 

• Reading list - EY - Yr6

KS1 & KS2 Vipers Reading Bookmarks

• VIPERS Bookmark Parents KS1
• VIPERS Bookmark Parents KS2