Early Reading

Intent       

At Swindon Academy, we believe that a high-quality education in early reading will set children up with the fundamental skills needed to be able articulate their ideas and understanding of what they learn and the world around them.   

Children will learn to: 

• Articulate sounds accurately  

• Recognise, decode and blend sounds individually and within words 

• Develop fluency, comprehension, spell and write with confidence.  

Implementation  

Beginning in early years, we use a range of strategies to develop initial sound recognition and love of words through: 

• Oral games to develop articulation and sound association with a variety of objects and pictures.  

• Regular opportunities to segment and blend orally. 

• Weekly reading breakfasts for families. 

Read Write Inc Phonics 

At Swindon Academy we use Read Write Inc phonics, a synthetic phonics programme to develop early reading. Phonics is first introduced at Nursery 4’s and followed, typically until the end of Key stage one but for as long as the child needs it.   

Phonics includes the following: 

• Daily teaching of sounds, linking letters to pictures and rhymes, with lots of phonics oral games in early years. 

• Progressive development of sound knowledge, learning to form letters, decode and blend sounds to read and write words.  

• Daily opportunities to practice reading and spelling words containing learnt sounds. 

• Daily opportunities for children to read decodable books containing sounds and words they can read.  

• 1:1 tutoring opportunities to ensure no child is left behind 

• Homework books linked to children’s sound knowledge and decoding ability.  

• Teacher story time using carefully selected books to enrich children’s vocabulary and increase exposure to a diverse range of stories and texts.  

​ ​Impact  

We measure the impact of our phonics using the following methods:     

• Termly phonics assessments 

• Individual tutoring progress grids  

• PIRA reading assessments 3 times throughout the year 

• Children are regularly listened to read by adults in school 

• Year 1 phonics screening check 

• Pupil and parent voice