Worthinghead Primary School's Reading Policy

This page will provide you with details on how we teach reading and phonics in school.

At Worthinghead, we believe that reading is an essential life skill and we strive for all children to enjoy and recognise the importance of reading in every day life. Reading provides opportunities for pupils to gain both understanding and pleasure from a range of texts. To support them in this, we aim to help pupils to:

• learn the basic skills of reading
• read with accuracy fluency and expression
• develop and use higher order reading skills which will contribute to their overall comprehension of texts
• understand the value of information texts as an aid to learning
• develop a love of literature and an understanding of the pleasure reading can bring.

Phonics

We begin the process of learning to read in the Early Years Foundation Stage, where we believe that a systematic teaching of phonics is the fastest and most effective way of getting young children to start reading. From Foundation the method we use to teach phonics is a combination of the 'Letters and Sounds' and the 'Jolly Phonics' programmes of work. The teaching of synthetic phonics continues in Years 1 and 2 and progress is assessed throughout the year to ensure children are on track to reach end of year expectations.

Interventions

Children are regularly assessed and those who are identified as not on track to reach end of year expectations are supported through appropriate interventions programmes.