Phonics and Reading

Reading is a priority at St Thomas More VC Academy and is taught daily.

At St Thomas More, our reading curriculum is designed to give all children a love of reading and a life-long relationship with literature. Children will make rapid progress to become fluent and confident readers. They will develop their comprehension, vocabulary and use of language through focused teaching of reading and exposure to a range of texts.

In Foundation Stage and Key Stage One this is through daily RWInc sessions and the introduction of guided reading in Key Stage One and in Key Stage Two, this is through daily whole class guided reading. At St Thomas More we use Ruth Miskin’s fantastic Read Write Inc phonics programme from Foundation Stage - Year 2 and, where needed, higher up the school. Children then have a phonetically decodable book matched to their RWInc level which they take home to enjoy reading at home with family.

Visit https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/ to explore further.

In Years 2-6, a skills-based reading lesson takes place every day. It incorporates age-appropriate, challenging texts, which are rich in vocabulary.

There is a clear focus on fluency and core comprehension skills which are age appropriate. The strategy aims to develop ‘depth’ in pupil’s responses to their reading. The use of a clear structure supports staff and develops confidence in their delivery of reading. All pupils are exposed to high quality texts and discussions, despite potential barriers to their word reading and comprehension.

During the afternoon, the teacher reads a shared class text. This is a session that is devoted to developing a love of story. Texts are age-appropriate, engaging and promote discussion.

Children take books home from school and this is monitored through electronic reading records provided via the 'Go Read/Boom Reader' application. Parent and teacher comments are shared. The books provided to children learning phonics contain words incorporating the sounds they have learnt.

Information for parents on Go Read/Boom Reader can be found here.