At Fleecefield we have the highest expectations of all our staff and children, and we want our pupils to leave as confident, successful and ready to embark on the next stage of their education. 

Teaching children the skill of reading is the single most important task we will as teachers undertake. Reading is a gateway skill that will help open up the whole curriculum for them and enable them to see themselves as successful learners. We aspire to support all the children to become language rich and believe that this can be best achieved through reading widely and reading ambitiously.

From the moment they enter our school, we aim to provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities, which promote a life-long enjoyment of reading. 

Early Reading and Phonics

At Fleecefield, the children are taught to read effectively and quickly using the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme (RWI) which includes teaching synthetic phonics, sight vocabulary, decoding and encoding words as well as spelling and accurate letter formation. The Read Write Inc phonics programme begins in Reception and continues into Year 1. It is designed to teach children to read accurately and fluently with good comprehension. The children learn to read 40+ sounds and learn to blend these into words. Children who need further support with phonics are able to access this in year 2 and into year 3.

All children are assessed every six weeks and grouped according to ability.  Each group is led by a trained reading leader who differentiates each lesson to meet the children’s needs. Children who need extra support to meet national expectations are quickly targeted and given additional support. Once the children are at the storybook stage, they will take home two books at their instructional level and an additional book to share with a grown-up at home. Our aim is to get all children blending confidently, as quickly as possible, to encourage their love of reading from an early age.

At the end of Year 1, all children take part in an individual Phonics Screening Check. This takes place in June and is designed to inform teachers and parents of children’s progress in phonics. This also enables us to put the right support in place for those children who may need additional support, to ensure they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill.

To find out about how we teach phonics, and how you can help click here