Further Developing Phonics

We are pleased to be working with the English Hub at Whiteknights Primary School in Reading next year to further develop the teaching of phonics, early language and reading in EYFS and Year 1.

The Hub provides us with:

• - £6,000 to invest in resources and training;
• - Up to six days of school to school support by specialist English teachers;
• - A full audit of a school's early language and phonics provision;

The Phonics Development Project is being led by Mrs Soane in Year 1.

We have decided to use the 'Read Write Inc' phonics scheme and this was put in place during the Summer Term.  Several teachers have attended the 2-day training and other teachers and support staff will be going in the Autumn Term.  We have also ordered sets of fully decodable books for use if Year R in particular.  These will sit alongside our existing reading scheme and be mainly used to support teaching in class.

Although we saw an improvement in our phonics results this year to 80%, which is close to the national average, we know there is more to do to ensure children develop the skills they need to be successful readers.  The earlier they do it, the better!