Kells Infant School

Literacy

At Kells Infant School we use Read Write Inc. Phonics which is a complete literacy programme for children who are learning to read and write.  The programme uses synthetic phonics to teach reading and it covers all of the National Curriculum requirements for literacy and language. 

Ruth Miskin developed the programme during her time as a headteacher in Tower Hamlets. She believes that in order for a school to be successful, every headteacher needs to adopt a consistent whole-school approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling. Fidelity to the teaching programme, rigorous assessment, tracking and one-to-one tutoring ensure that schools guarantee progress for every child.

For information and tutorials on how to support your child learning to read go to: http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

This approach:

• Gets children decoding and comprehending quickly.  The special 'three reads' approach ensures that all children gain accuracy, fluency and a good understanding of the text.
• Ensures children read storybooks and non-fiction books matched to their growing phonic knowledge.
• Leaves no child behind.   Initial and on-going assessment to track every child's progress.
• Prevents downtime.  Direct teaching followed by partner practice means that every child participates in the whole lesson.

We begin using Read Write Inc. when our pupils are in nursery and they start by learning the first 30 sounds in short, daily sessions.  When pupils move into reception year, they begin to read storybooks and non-fiction books that are closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge.  The sessions are lively and interactive and our pupils make rapid progress.  They begin to write confidently and learn to spell using sounds that they know.  Their progress is assessed at the end of every half term and they are grouped according to the level they are working at.  This ensures that teaching is always focused precisely on what pupils need and the pace of learning is fast.  If we are ever concerned about a child's progress in reading, we provide 1:1 intervention for 15 minutes a day to address this and accelerate their progress.  These sessions are delivered by highly skilled support staff who have received specific Read Write Inc. 1:1 intervention training.

The lessons are based on 6 principles:

1. Participation; children work in partners and all children participate fully in the learning.
2. Praise; a vital part of the programme.  For example praise phrases that your child may tell you about are ‘a whoosh’ ‘an Elvis’ ‘a lorry driver’.
3. Pace; children are grouped according to their level so that the sessions are pacey and keep the children engaged throughout.
4. Purpose; all children know the reasons for each part of the learning: we are going to learn a new sound/read words with our sound/spell words with our sound.
5. Passion; all RWI sessions are delivered by the staff with enthusiasm and with passion for the learning.
6. Perseverance; the programme enables every child to become a fluent reader and has catch-up programmes in place for the children requiring a little extra so that no one gets left behind.