Alderman's Green Primary School

Learning to read is one of the most important things 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 work hard to make sure children develop a love of books as well as simply learning to read.

We start by teaching phonics in Reception using the highly successful ‘Read Write Inc’ phonics programme. Children learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. The children also practise reading (and spelling) ‘tricky words’, such as ‘once,’ ‘have,’ ‘said’ and ‘where’. Once children can blend sounds together to read words, they practise reading books that match the phonics and the ‘tricky words’ they know. They start to believe they can read and this does wonders for their confidence. Teachers regularly read to the children, too, so the children get to know and love all sorts of stories, poetry and information books. This helps to extend children’s vocabulary and comprehension, as well as supporting their writing.

Some older children will continue to access Read Write Inc groups if they need further consolidation and development of reading skills. We check children’s reading skills regularly to ensure they are getting all the support they need to read confidently. All children are provided with reading books matched to their phonic ability to practice reading at home.  Pupils also have access to a significant library collection of books.

In KS2 we continue to use the Read Write Inc programme as an intervention to support pupils when needed.  Reading is taught in class using the Triumph Trust Approach to Reading .  This develops children's reading fluency and comprehension skills.
Home reading books are matched to pupils ability using Accelerated Reader.  Pupils take half termly comprehension tests, using an online system, to determine their reading ability and age.  This programme also identifies where areas of support for reading are required.  Pupils then choose their reading book from our extensive school library, which is colour matched to the Accelerated Reader programme.