Reading & Phonics

Reading and Phonics at Ash Hill Primary School

At Ash Hill, we are driven by teaching children the skills of reading to ensure that they are able to access the curriculum fully and confidently, develop a love of reading and are equipped for their future learning and life. To be able to read fluently and independently is, in our view, one of the most important skills that we can give to our school community.

From early phonics to UKS2, dedicated reading lessons guide children from the matching of sounds to letters through to the skills of decoding, reading fluency and comprehension for all children. We want every child at Ash Hill to grow into a confident reader and we aim to achieve this through quality teaching and additional support where necessary as well as a thriving and inviting library.

By focusing not only on reading (or decoding) words and sentences, we believe that unlocking the meaning, origins and creativity of words has the power to open doors to learning and success in life beyond the Ash Hill school gates.

Our core aims are:

1. Develop Proficient Readers:

Ensure that all pupils develop strong phonic skills through systematic and explicit phonics instruction, enabling them to decode words, comprehend texts, and develop a love for reading.

2. Inspire a Love for Reading:

Foster enthusiasm for reading by providing a diverse range of high-quality literature across genres, cultures, and topics, encouraging pupils to choose their reading material and share their recommendations.

3. Promote Reading for Pleasure:

Cultivate a school environment that values and prioritises reading, featuring regular opportunities for independent reading and shared reading. Reading experiences are enhanced by reading-themed days alongside in-person and online poet and author visits.

4. Reading as a mirror and a window to our community:

Tailor our reading and phonics curriculum to meet the specific needs and interests of our local community in Micklefield and High Wycombe including those with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Pupils see themselves and their families represented in the books and reading materials on offer and also explore new worlds and opportunities through them too.

5. Meet the needs of children with SEND:

To plan, adapt and teach to purposefully serve the differing learning needs of our children, ensuring inclusivity for all learners and developing independent readers with the necessary skills and confidence.

Implementation

Our reading and phonics strategy is underpinned by a carefully structured framework that includes:

1. High-Quality Phonics Instruction: We utilise a validated phonics programme that is consistent and progressive, focusing on cumulative learning. Early years and Key Stage 1 classes have daily phonics sessions that are engaging and differentiated to meet the diverse needs and abilities of all learners.
2. Reading across the Curriculum: Reading is firmly embedded across the curriculum. Subject areas complement reading development by integrating high-quality texts that relate to geography, history, science and R.E which allows children to reinforce comprehension and vocabulary skills in different contexts.
3. Poetry performances: Every class learns a different poem on a termly basis, reading and practising it closely together. The poem is then performed in assembly in front of other year groups benefitting reading fluency and performance.
4. Professional Development for Staff: Continuous professional development ensures that teaching staff are well-equipped with the latest strategies and methodologies in phonics and reading. Regular training sessions focus on the implementation of the phonics programme, along with sharing best practices in reading instruction.
5. Reading Ambassadors and Engagement: We engage pupils as reading ambassadors, encouraging them to promote reading within the school community through initiatives such as reading challenges and mentoring, managing the library and supporting reading-themed events.

Our Reading Spine

To ensure we can develop the essential reading skills as well as foster a lifelong passion for reading at Ash Hill, we have developed our own set of core ‘read aloud’ stories, non-fiction texts and poems for each year group. We have selected a range of high-quality texts that reflect a variety of themes, settings, characters and language from a diverse range of countries and cultures. With both classic and modern texts, fiction and non-fiction extracts to stimulate comparison and discussion, we have been guided by the recommendations of reading experts and the Reading Framework 2023 in curating our reading spine.

Staff are encouraged to suggest books and contribute texts from their own reading as they themselves represent powerful role models as reader teachers. The core reading list is refreshed regularly as exciting, new books are published and to reflect the changing nature of our school community. Some texts will be used as the focus for reading and writing lessons while others are shared for pleasure in our daily story time.

 

 

 

 

“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”

Rudine Sims Bishop, American author

Phonics – Read, Write Inc

Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read by recognising sounds and putting these sounds together to form words. It is an important step in a child’s journey to learning to read.

From the summer term in Nursery, we teach phonics using the Read, Write Inc programme (RWI). Children from Reception upwards are put into smaller groups based on ‘Stage not age.’ This is so that they can access the teaching and learning that they need to progress onto the next stage in their reading journey. The sessions are carefully planned and sequenced so that children are introduced to new sounds and also given the opportunity to blend these sounds together to form words. The children will also read a RWI phonics book in their phonics lessons and, once read a couple of times, a paper copy of this book will be sent home with your child. The children read in pairs, encouraging each other with the sounds and blending where needed. The books are grouped according to colour and get progressively more challenging. The children are assessed every 6-8 weeks and re-grouped. When the children reach the expected standard in their phonics assessments and have completed the programme, they will access lessons to further develop their fluency and spelling, punctuation and grammar.

 

How will my child learn to read?

First your child will learn to read:

• Set 1 Speed Sounds

Some of the Set 1 sounds are written with one letter:

m a s d t i n p g o c k u b f e l h r j v y w z x

Other sounds are written with two letters (your child will call these ‘special friends’):

sh,th, ch, qu, ng, nk, ck

• Words containing these sounds, by sound-blending, e.g. m-a-t mat, c-a-t cat, g-o-t got, f-i-sh fish, s-p-o-t spot, b-e-s-t best, s-p-l-a-sh splash
• Blending books, Ditties, Red Ditty Storybooks, Green Storybooks, Purple Storybooks

Second, he or she will learn to read:

• Set 2 Speed sounds:

ay, ee, igh, ow, oo, oo, ar, or, air, ir, ou, oy

• Words containing these sounds
• Pink, Orange and Yellow Storybooks

Third, he or she will learn to read:

• Set 3 Speed sounds:

ea, oi, a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, aw, are, ur, er, ow, ai, oa, ew, ire, ear, ure

• Words containing these sounds
• Blue and grey Storybooks

 

Your child will be taught to say the sound for the letter and not the letter name, so ‘m’ as in ‘mat’ rather than ‘em’ or ‘s’ as in ‘sun’ not ‘es.’

How to listen to your child read

• Do not read the book aloud before your child reads it to you.
• Ask your child to read the sounds and words before he or she reads the story.
• When your child reads the story, ask him or her to sound out the words that the or she can’t read automatically. Don’t allow your child to struggle too much. Praise your child when he or she succeeds.
• Read back each sentence or page to keep the plot moving. Your child’s energy is going into reading the words not the story.
• Do not ask your child to guess the word by using the pictures.
• Do it all with patience and love!

 

We ready daily every day at school where the teacher reads to the children so that they develop a love of stories. We hope that you will do the same by reading a bedtime story to your child every night. We have wonderful books in school for you to borrow.

 

Phonics Screening Check

The Phonics Screening Check was introduced by the government in 2013 to assess children’s phonic knowledge. The check is comprised of 40 words which a child reads one to one with a teacher. The list is a combination of both real and made up, non-words which rely purely on using phonics to decode. The non-words are words that have been made up and will be shown with a picture of an imaginary creature next to them.

The Phonics Screening Check will take place one to one but will be kept ‘low key’ so that the children will be largely unaware of this being a check. They are already used to reading words one to one as part of our normal phonics teaching and assessment.

 

After the check

We will tell you about your child’s progress in phonics and how he or she has done in the Phonics Screening Check when the results are confirmed. Some children may find the check difficult and not reach the expected standard. If this is the case, the children will continue to access phonics lessons until they are confident with their sounds and effortlessly blending. The check ensures that teachers understand which children need extra help with phonic decoding. If your child has not reached the expected standard in Year 1, they will take the Phonics Screening Check again the following June.

 

Phonics Tutoring

For some children, they will find the mechanisms of decoding and blending challenging. This is easily picked up in school through the phonics assessments that we do. Should your child find phonics a challenge, they will be further supported in school by a daily phonics tutor. This is a school adult who is familiar with the teaching of phonics and tutoring process. They will effectively support your child to continue their phonics journey successfully through daily phonics support.

Books sent home

We send home different books to support with the development of reading depending on a child’s year group. They are as follows:

Year 1	Year 2	Years 3 & 4	Years 5 & 6
1 X Paper phonics book, blending book or pack of ditties covered that week   1 X Book bag book   1 X Scheme book e.g. Oxford Reading Tree	1-3 X Scheme books e.g. Oxford Reading Tree   If appropriate, will take a paper phonics book and a book bag book	1 X Scheme book   1 X Free Reader Book of choice   If appropriate, will take a paper phonics book and a book bag book	1 X Free Reader Book of choice   If appropriate, will also take 1 scheme book

 

Half termly, parents are also sent a collection of videos from the RWI scheme which support the sound learning of their RWI group.

 

How to further support your child with their phonics at home

Parent Video on how to say the phonics sounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkXcabDUg7Q

 

Useful Links:

https://readingeggs.co.uk/ - games, songs to enhance your child learning to read. We have a subscription to this so if you can’t find your login, please ask your child’s class teacher.

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ - has a variety of free games to play to enhance your child’s learning of phonics.

https://phonicsplaycomics.co.uk/comics.html - has a variety of phonics comics for children can read either online or you can print off

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDe74j1F52zSd85pobSCXJmhnHbJ4pggB – Story time with Nick is a RWI resource that RWI have put on their website so that children can listen to a range of exciting stories

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDe74j1F52zQAqDyhlrC5-tPxaxz98FCX – Poetry time with Nick and Elly is also a RWI resource that RWI have put on their website so that children can listen to a range of exciting poems

 

Whole class reading

The core texts are shared in class from the first experience of picture books in EYFS to the latest authors in Year 6 with whole class reading starting in Year 1. Key themes and the core skills of reading such as retrieval, vocabulary definition, summarising and predicting, explanation and inference are taught through these texts during dedicated daily class time. The majority of this teaching is delivered as a whole class which has proved to be effective in improving the fluency and comprehension skills of all readers.

Children are challenged to think independently, discuss their ideas with partners and in small groups as well as contributing to class discussions. Written activities are focused on recording individual responses to a text and are designed to engage readers and develop analytical skills. 

These books are supplemented by a rich reading ‘diet’ of books and extracts from a variety of related authors and sources which also provide inspiration for our writing units.

Fluency

A key priority for the coming years is improving reading fluency across the school through targeted teaching, modelling and practice. Our teachers guide pupils in becoming more accurate, automatic and expressive as the key elements in developing fluency. Increasing the ‘reading mileage’ (the number of words they are reading aloud every day) that children achieve with fluency is supported by techniques such as choral and echo reading following the teacher as expert reader’s demonstration.

In 2024, Ash Hill joined the Herts for Learning Reading Fluency Project to support readers in Year 2 and 3 to reach their potential. The sessions are delivered by the class teachers who use their skill and knowledge of the children to help them improve their fluency, confidence and engagement with reading. This will be extended to more children in those year groups and to Year 4 pupils before being rolled out to the school as a whole.

Story time

At Ash Hill, we value the pleasure that comes from listening to stories being read aloud so we ensure that children experience this on a daily basis. This time is in addition to reading lessons and teachers are encouraged to share books they loved as well as classics and new books from recommendations. Every child and every class is different in terms of their reading journey so the books are chosen with children in mind with voting and requests welcomed.

Reading at home

Children are expected to read at home on a daily basis and record this, returning the book to school for checking. This is one of the most important ways in which parents can support their children in becoming confident readers and guidance is provided online and in-school workshops.

Reading for Pleasure

All classrooms have their own library of carefully-chosen books and a separate space in which to enjoy them which is designed to promote a love of reading. Children are supported in making recommendations and sharing books with each other in book-talk sessions and staff are always on hand to help them find the next great read.

We are proud of our school library and ensure children feel welcome and part of its ongoing development as they explore new books together in their weekly sessions. Book fairs, workshops and inspirational visits or virtual interactions with poets and authors enhance our children’s experience of the fantastic world of reading.

 

Impact

Reading Assessment and Support

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it. Regular formative and summative assessments enable us to track pupil progress in reading and phonics.

• Assessment for learning is used:

• daily within class to identify children needing keep-up support
• daily reading
• weekly in the review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.

• Summative assessment is used:

Phonics assessments are carried out throughout the school year to monitor progress and support children.

Phonics Screening Check at the end of Year 1 (see Phonics section for more information).

Reading comprehension assessments are carried out termly to inform the provision of individual and small group support alongside SATs preparation tests in Year 6.

Reading fluency and reading age assessments are used to monitor progress and direct targeted interventions for those needing additional support, ensuring that all pupils make the expected progress from their starting points.

Children leave Ash Hill with a love of reading and the skills to enjoy all of the wonderful stories, knowledge and opportunities that the world has to offer.

 

Useful websites

https://www.thereaderteacher.com/ - Recommendations by Year group and theme

https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/ Extracts, recommendations and new books

https://buckinghamshire.overdrive.com/ Link to Bucks Library free e-books service

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/reading-tips/