Phonics

At College Road, we believe learning to read is the most important thing your child will learn at our school. Everything else depends on it, so we put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible.

We want your child to love reading and to want to read for themselves. This is why we put our efforts into making sure they develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.

How will my child be taught to read?

We start by teaching phonics to the children in the Foundation class. This means that they learn how to 'read' the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down i.e., the phonemes c a t can be blended together to read the word cat. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. Ask them to show you what these are.

The children also practise reading (and spelling) what we call 'tricky words', such as 'once', 'no', 'said' and 'where'. These are words that can not be sounded out.

The children practise their reading with books that match the phonics and the 'tricky words' they know. They start thinking that they can read and this does wonders for their confidence.

The teachers read to the children too, so the children get to know all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. They learn many more words this way and it also helps their writing.

How will I know how well my child is doing?

We will always let you know how well your child is doing by sending home a letter each term explaining which phonics group your child will be going into the following term and whether this is inline with national expectations.

We use various ways to find out how the children are getting on in reading. We use the information to decide what reading group they should be in. Your child will work with children who are at the same reading level as him or her. Children will move to a different group if they are making faster progress than the others. Your child will have one-to-one support if we think he or she needs some extra help to keep up.

In the summer term, the government asks us to do a phonics check of all the Year 1 children. That gives us extra information about their progress. We will share with you how well your child has done, and especially if we have any worries at all.

How long will it take to learn to read well?

By the end of Year 2, your child should be able to read aloud books that are at the right level for his or her age. In Year 3 we concentrate more on helping children to understand what they are reading through our daily whole class reading sessions, although this work begins very early on. This happens when the teacher reads to the children and also when the children read their own story book.

How do I know the teaching will be good?

All the staff have been trained to teach reading in the way we do it in this school. We believe that it is very important that all the teachers and teaching assistants work in the same way. The Reading Leads (Mrs Rolfe and Mrs Copp) watch other teachers and teaching assistants teaching to make sure that the children are learning in the way we want them to learn.

Reading at home

You will be invited in to read with your child in Foundation so you can see a teacher model reading. Please come and support your child. We would very much like you to know how to help.

Your child will bring different sorts of books home from school. It helps if you know whether this is a book that your child can read on their own or whether this is a book that you should read to them. The teacher will have explained which is which. Please trust your child's teacher to choose the book(s) that will help your child the most.

Help your child to sound out the letters in words and then to 'push' the sounds together to make a whole word. Try not refer to the letters by their names. Help your child to focus on the sounds. You can hear how to say the sounds correctly at this link: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents/

Sometimes your child might bring home a picture book that they know well. Please don't say, 'This is too easy'. Instead, encourage your child to tell you the story out loud; ask them questions about things that happen or what they think about some of the characters in the story.

We know parents and carers are very busy people but if you can find time to read to your child as much as possible, it helps him or her to learn about books and stories. They also learn new words and what they mean. Show that you are interested in reading yourself and talk about reading as a family.

Does it matter if my child misses a lesson or two?

It matters a lot if your child misses school. The way we teach children to read is very well organised, so even one missed lesson means that your child has not learnt something that they need to know to be a good reader.

What if he or she finds it difficult to learn to read?

We want children to learn to read, however long it takes us to teach them. We will find out very quickly if your child is finding reading difficult. First, we move children to a different group, so that we can make sure that they have learnt what they need to know. If they still struggle, we give them extra time with an adult, on their own. These adults are specially trained to support these children. Your child will still be in the same group with the other children and won't miss out on any of the class lessons.

If we have serious worries about your child's reading, we will talk to you about this.

If you have any questions, please come and talk to us or you can find some useful information on the link below.