Phonics
At Willow Brook School we deliver a daily reading programme called Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI).
It is a well-established programme at our school which allows the children to feel successful and make quick progress on their journey to becoming fluent readers. The children are placed in small groups matched to their reading ability rather than their age. Each group is led by an experienced adult which allows all children to achieve their individual potential.
All children are individually assessed on a termly basis and then regrouped accordingly. If children need extra support on top of their daily RWI lesson, daily phonics interventions are put in place to fill in any gaps in their sound knowledge.
All children take home a RWI book to consolidate their learning and reading skills, as well as a library book to enjoy and share with an adult.
The children start on the RWI programme in Term 1 of Reception starting with introducing a sound each day (grapheme phoneme correspondence - GPC). They then learn to blend the sounds to read words along with using their GPC knowledge to write simple words. In some cases our Nursery children are introduced to the pure sounds in short sessions if appropriate to individual children.
All children in Year One undertake the National Phonics Screening check in June.
The children continue with RWI phonics in Year 2 until they complete the programme. They will then embark on our Accelerated Reader programme which continues in Key Stage Two.
However, some of our KS2 children will continue on the Read Write Inc programme alongside Accelerated Reader if they need additional phonic intervention.
We want all our pupils, regardless of age, to learn to read as quickly as possible and then to keep reading.
If you would like more information, please speak to any member of the teaching staff.