Literacy

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr Seuss

We prioritise learning the fundamentals of literacy – fluency in speaking and listening, fluency and comprehension in reading, and basic skills in writing. In the early years and key stage 1 we teach a structured phonics programme to ensure that no child is left behind – Read, Write, Inc. https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents/

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/programmes/phonics/

Read Write Inc. is a government recommended phonics programme that has been proven to raise achievement in children’s reading and writing. Our staff are trained to deliver high quality phonics and literacy lessons that children enjoy and benefit from. In 2018, 96% of our Y1 children passed the Phonics Screening Check, a statutory assessment which assesses whether children are on track in their ability to phonically decode words.

We believe that the best way to ensure that children do well in English is to ensure that they become life-long engaged readers. Alongside RWI, we ensure that children develop a love of reading by exposing them to a variety of storybooks as well as non-fiction texts to fire their imagination and nurture their interests.

Children and staff at Concordia are enthusiastic readers and we endeavour to foster a love and passion for reading in our children from the outset. To this end, we hold a variety of whole school events throughout the year to encourage and develop the passion for reading. We also ensure that teachers make regular recommendations to children to encourage reading for pleasure.

The document below shows the expected reading levels by the end of each term for both RWI phonics and Oxford Level books. Additionally, we have included the expected reading speed standard for words per minute for each year group.

Expectations for Reading Progress

Reception

We begin the process of learning to read in the Foundation Stage, where we believe that the daily, systematic teaching of phonics is the fastest and most effective way of getting young children to start reading. By the end of Reception, it is our expectation that all children can blend and that the vast majority will be reading simple books. In Foundation Stage, the focus of writing is using phonics to write simple sentences with basic punctuation. To this end, the writing scheme links closely to the reading scheme. Children write for a range of purposes and activities are creative and fun.

KS1 and KS2

The teaching of synthetic phonics continues throughout Years 1 and 2. Our programme is structured in such a way as to ensure the teaching of phonics is systematically delivered and that progress is built on from year to year. Children are taught a series of sounds and then apply these to a series of graded books before moving on to the next set of sounds. From Year 2, most children start the RWI Literacy and Language Programme. This allows them to access more sophisticated themes and texts, and enables them to develop their comprehension and written work.

Year 1 and 2 teachers introduce grammatical knowledge to children, including word classes and sentence types.

Handwriting

At Concordia we follow the Nelson Handwriting Scheme from Year 1 onwards. We expect our children to join well by the end of Year 2 and to develop a personal style by the end of Year 6. See the gallery below for images of some of our incredible handwriting!