Reading & Phonics

Our aim is for all children to leave West Grove with a lifelong love of reading. We ensure all children have developed their ‘reading mind’ through learning to read fluently, developing comprehension skills, reading for a range of purposes, enjoying stories and exploring diverse themes. We prioritise reading because we know it gives children access to a lifetime of learning.

A rigorous start to reading begins with phonics, which we deliver through ‘Little Wandle Letters & Sounds’ programme, beginning children on phase one in Nursery and aiming for all children to reach phase five by the end of year one. Children are expected to apply their phonic knowledge throughout the curriculum and embed their reading skills through phonetically matched digital and real home reading books.

Class reading in early years focuses on one to one reading, allowing teachers to move children on quickly and ensure they are using their phonics knowledge effectively to decode and blend. Reading lessons in Key Stage One focus on embedding phonics through small group guided reading sessions, using banded books matched to their phonic level.

In year three our children move on to whole-class comprehension lessons, accessing a carefully mapped range of texts that cover a breadth of themes and genres and link to the wider curriculum when appropriate. These lessons cover the key domains of reading development with teacher modelled question stems to check for understanding. They then read once per week in a small guided reading group with their teacher to embed these skills.

Alongside these reading lessons children are accessing the Accelerated Reading scheme which matches text to reading age and encourages children to read with rewarding quizzes. Accelerated Reader is designed to create a culture of reading through choice and allow teachers to monitor reading progress and personalise instruction.