Phonics – Read Write Inc.

At Grinling Gibbons Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a confident, fluent and enthusiastic reader. We use Read Write Inc. (RWI) as our systematic synthetic phonics programme, providing a consistent approach to phonics, early reading and spelling.

Intent

Our intention is for every child to become a successful, confident and independent reader, regardless of their starting point or individual needs.

Our phonics curriculum aims to:

• Develop secure phoneme-grapheme knowledge.
• Teach children to blend, segment and decode accurately.
• Develop reading fluency, accuracy and confidence.
• Provide fully decodable books matched to children’s phonic knowledge.
• Identify and address gaps quickly through assessment and targeted support.
• Ensure phonics is accessible to all children, including those with SEND and EAL.
• Develop a love of reading alongside strong decoding skills.

Implementation

Nursery

Children’s phonics journey begins in Nursery, where they develop the foundations for reading through listening, speaking, rhyme, rhythm, vocabulary and sound discrimination.

Reception

Children begin systematic Read Write Inc. phonics, learning sounds and graphemes and applying these through blending, decoding, spelling and reading. Children are grouped according to their current phonic knowledge, ensuring teaching is appropriately targeted.

Years 1 and 2

Phonics continues systematically, with children consolidating their knowledge and applying it to reading and spelling. Regular assessment ensures that gaps are identified and addressed promptly.

Children read decodable books matched to the sounds they have been taught, allowing them to practise their skills successfully and develop independence.

Home Reading

In EYFS and KS1, children take home a decodable book matched to their phonics knowledge, alongside a book to enjoy and share with parents or carers, supporting both reading practice and a love of reading.

Phonics Screening Check

In Year 1, children complete the statutory Phonics Screening Check. We use this alongside our ongoing assessment to identify children who require further support.

Children who do not meet the expected standard continue to receive targeted phonics teaching and are reassessed in Year 2.

Years 3 and 4

Phonics support continues beyond Year 2 for any child who has not yet secured the necessary decoding skills. Where appropriate, children may access Read Write Inc. Fresh Start or other targeted intervention.

Children who are secure in phonics increasingly focus on fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, enabling them to access increasingly challenging texts across the curriculum.

New Starters

Every child joining Grinling Gibbons is assessed promptly on entry, regardless of their year group or previous school. Their phonics and reading knowledge is used to identify their starting point, appropriate teaching group and any additional support required.

Assessment, Inclusion and Intervention

Assessment is an integral part of our phonics teaching. Staff regularly assess children’s knowledge and application of phonics to ensure that teaching responds to individual needs.

Children who require additional support receive targeted intervention, additional practice and appropriate adaptations. Our approach is “keep up, not catch up”, ensuring that gaps are addressed quickly and do not become barriers to reading.

Impact

The impact of our phonics curriculum is demonstrated through children’s ability to:

• Apply their phonics knowledge independently.
• Decode unfamiliar words accurately.
• Read with increasing fluency and confidence.
• Apply phonics when spelling.
• Read books successfully at their appropriate level.
• Develop vocabulary and comprehension.
• Become enthusiastic and independent readers.

We evaluate the effectiveness of our phonics provision through ongoing assessment, RWI data, reading progress, intervention records, lesson observations, book scrutiny and the Phonics Screening Check.

Our aim is for every child to develop secure decoding skills, become a fluent reader and develop a lifelong love of reading.

The Phoenix federation uses the Literacy Tree, which is a book-based primary English planning resource. We believe that using engaging, language-rich and diverse texts, which are reflective of our community, inspire creativity and develop an enjoyment for writing.

As a federation we want our writing opportunities to be meaningful, and to be written with a clear audience and purpose in mind, whether the pieces we produce are short or long.  Using books as a stimuli, we provide the opportunity to write for a range of purposes, for example to explain, persuade, inform or instruct.  Wherever possible, writing is embedded within a text, piece of media or linked to a specific curriculum area.

PHONICS AND SPELLING

In the EYFS and Year 1, children receive a daily session in phonics. This teaches children to hear, say, read and write the full range of sounds needed to read and write independently.

From Year 2 onwards, children are taught the age-appropriate spelling patterns as outlined in the spelling appendix of the national curriculum.

All children are given a set of words to practise spelling, and from Year 1 onwards, these are tested once a week.

GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION

Wherever possible, grammar and punctuation is explored and taught within a real context: this may be done through a quality text that the children are reading, or it could be in the shared writing which all adults model as part of the teaching process. 

HANDWRITING

In the Phoenix Federation children are taught to join their letters using the Letter-Join Programme. Children practise their handwriting regularly in order to develop confidence and fluency, and all adults model a joined handwriting script.