At Richmond Hill Academy, we believe that learning to read is the key to unlocking all future potential; Our responsibility is to teach children to ‘learn to read’ so that they can ‘read to learn.’

Reading opens up a whole new world of understanding and comprehension and supports children to make sense of the world around them. We also feel it is one of the most powerful ways of improving academic standards in school. Our overall aim is to provide children with the appropriate skills and most importantly, attitudes towards reading, that ultimately inspire pupils. We want to ensure that every child has the opportunity to experience the delight and power of books and the written word, regardless of their first language, literacy skills, disability or culture.

All year groups enjoy daily shared reading with strong SMSC links, ensuring that all pupils are exposed to high quality story books and poetry, that have been researched and mapped by senior leaders and subject leads, and where adults can foster a love of reading. This special reading time is also an opportunity to develop fluency and intonation through expressive, modelled reading and deepen understanding of new vocabulary. It is a very special time that each teacher takes great pride and pleasure in delivering. The teachers spend time reading their favourite books to their own classes, other classes and other year groups, when possible, as well as talking about the books they are reading themselves. Our whole school library is an area that is used by staff and children to share books together and celebrate a love of reading. Children are able to take books out from the library and enjoy them at home, as well as in their own classes.

The development of children’s phonics is a key skill that impacts on their progress as a reader and a writer. It is through their knowledge of phonics that children can read and write unfamiliar words by saying the sounds which match the letters in the words and then blending the sounds together.

Through a strong focus on the teaching of phonics we aim:

• To provide all children with a systematic and synthetic approach to teaching phonics which ensures all children achieve.
• To teach children all of the sounds (including alternative pronunciations) included in each phase of the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme.
• To teach children how to orally blend spoken sounds to pronounce words.
• To read words by segmenting the sounds in a word and then blending the sounds back together.
• To write words by writing each of the sounds they can hear in a word.
• That children by the end of year one will have developed a secure knowledge of all phonics sounds in order to develop as fluent readers to access and enjoy a range of books.
• To quickly identify children who need extra support and provide extra practise to enable them to keep up.

Pupils across the school have a daily phonics session, which follows the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised structure of Revisit and Review, Teach and Practise, Practise and Apply and Guided Practice (reading a decodable book). Phonics is taught in the morning immediately after the daily register and will last for 20 minutes in Upper Foundation Stage and 25-30 minutes in Year One. Children in year two who require additional phonics teaching, also receive this in a small group session.

Revisit and Review – The children have the opportunity to re-cap sounds that have already been taught to them. They will then have the opportunity to practise reading words containing familiar sounds. The children will then practise reading the tricky words that are linked to their current stage in the phonics progression.

Teach and Practise – The new sound of the day is explicitly taught.
The new sound of the day will be taught and children will have the opportunity to practise orally segmenting and blending words alongside reading words containing the sound. During this time teachers will further support understanding by giving examples and definitions of some of the words in a sentence. A new tricky word will then be introduced and children will practise reading the word.

Practise and Apply – The children are given the opportunity to practise using the new sound, by reading and writing words/sentences containing this sound. The children will then further apply this sound by writing further words containing the sound of the day and a previously taught tricky word.
The reading lead will oversee the teaching of phonics and the delivery of the programme by monitoring the impact of this and by coaching and training the staff.

The school follows the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme. Further information about this phonics programme can be found at: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Further information about the progression of phonics from Upper Foundation (Reception) to the end of Year 1 is available here.

Phonics in the classroom environment – There will be consistent phonics displays across the classrooms. Each classroom will display tricky words relevant to the age group and all the phonics sounds which are taught in that year group. There will be a specific reference to the sound taught that day on the display. High-quality phonic resources from Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised will be also available including sound flash cards, word flash cards and also other resources to support with spelling such as word cards, colour mats. Phonics learning lines and working walls will display the taught sounds for the week and will be added to throughout the week with words containing that sound. Each classroom area will have a well organised and stocked reading area with high-quality books which the children can access. Phonics books will also be displayed in this area to provide pupils with a further opportunity to read independently the sound taught.

Interventions in phonics – Daily phonics interventions through regular and short keep up sessions will take place for identified pupils who require additional support. This will follow the same structure as above and will be a familiar routine to the children. Intervention will focus on targeted pupils identified through recent assessments and will be based around sounds that the pupils do not know whilst also recapping sounds they do know to ensure they can achieve success.

Assessment of phonics – Phonics assessments will take place to assess pupils’ knowledge of the sounds that have been taught throughout the focused phase. It will also assess children’s decoding skills as they read unfamiliar words by applying their phonics or familiar words accurately. From the assessments, teachers will quickly identify the pupils who require further support and they will be provided with a targeted intervention. Daily assessment through the ‘speedy sounds’ using flash cards will also take place by the teacher and teaching assistant. The reading lead will oversee the assessment of phonics and will analyse data and will monitor the impact of interventions.

Phonics screening check – The phonics screening check is an assessment for the pupils in Year One which takes place during the final summer term. The check assesses the children’s ability to segment and blend words effectively by reading a series of real and non-words (‘alien words’). The check takes place on a one to one basis with the child and their class teacher. Results are submitted and parents are informed whether their child has met the required standard or not. Any child who does not meet the required standard in year one will have the opportunity to re-take the check the following year during year two.