READING & PHONICS

This section of the website gives information about how we have achieved a culture of reading at Ridgeway Primary Academy.

INTENT

PHONICS: READING AND SPELLING

At Ridgeway Primary Academy we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. This is why we teach phonics through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Early Years and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. At Ridgeway Primary Academy, we also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

COMPREHENSION

At Ridgeway Primary Academy, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave us, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. We encourage our children to see themselves as readers for both pleasure and purpose.

IMPLEMENTATION

FOUNDATIONS FOR PHONICS IN NURSERY

We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’. These include:

►  sharing high-quality stories and poems

►  learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes

►  activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending

►  attention to high-quality language.

DAILY PHONICS LESSONS IN RECEPTION AND YEAR 1

We teach phonics daily. In Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons, with additional daily oral blending games, to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.

Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term, consolidating the previous learning of our Nursery children and giving our new starters a flying start.

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

►  Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.

►  Children in Year 1 review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

DAILY KEEP-UP LESSONS ENSURE EVERY CHILD LEARNS TO READ

Any child who needs additional practice has daily Keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons match the structure of class teaching, and use the same procedures, resources and mantras, but in smaller steps with more repetition, so that every child secures their learning.

We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 or 3 who is not fully fluent at reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments to identify the gaps in their phonic knowledge and teach to these using the Keep-up resources – at pace. 

TEACHING READING: READING PRACTICE SESSIONS THREE TIMES A WEEK

We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These:

► are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children

► use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book matching grids.

are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis.

Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:

► decoding

► prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression

► comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.

In Year 2 and 3, we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.

HOME READING

The decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family.

Reading for pleasure books also go home for parents to share and read to children.

ENSURE READING FOR PLEASURE

We value reading for pleasure highly and work hard as a school to grow our Reading for Pleasure pedagogy.

We read to children every day. We choose these books carefully as we want children to experience a wide range of books, including books that reflect the children at Ridgeway Primary Academy and our local community as well as books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.

Every classroom has an inviting book corner that encourages a love for reading. We curate these books and talk about them to entice children to read a wide range of books.

In Nursery/Reception, children have access to the reading corner every day in their free flow time and the books are continually refreshed.

Children from Nursery/Reception onwards have a home reading record. The parent/carer records comments to share with the adults in school and the adults will write in this on a regular basis to ensure communication between home and school.

As the children progress through the school, they are encouraged to write their own comments and keep a list of the books/authors that they have read.

The school library is made available for classes to use at protected times. Children across the school have regular opportunities to engage with a wide range of Reading for Pleasure events (book fairs, author visits and workshops, national events etc).

IMPACT

ASSESSMENT

Assessment is used to monitor progress and to identify any child needing additional support as soon as they need it.

Assessment for learning is used:

► daily within class to identify children needing Keep-up support

► weekly in the Review lesson to assess gaps, address these immediately and secure fluency of GPCs, words and spellings.

Summative assessment is used:

► every six weeks to assess progress, to identify gaps in learning that need to be addressed, to identify any children needing additional support and to plan the Keep-up support that they need.

► by SLT and scrutinised through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessment tracker, to narrow attainment gaps between different groups of children and so that any additional support for teachers can be put into place.

STATUTORY ASSESSMENT

Children in Year 1 sit the Phonics Screening Check. Any child not passing the check re-sits it in Year 2.

ONGOING ASSESSMENT FOR CATCH-UP

Children in Year 2 to 6 are assessed through their teacher’s ongoing formative assessment.

Click on each title below for more details:

► Phonics Screening Meeting 2025 - Presentation

► Ridgeway Reading Progression Map 2023 2024

READING FOR PLEASURE

At Ridgeway, we understand the importance of reading for pleasure and promote this in lots of ways.  Our school library is packed with thousands of wonderful books for our children to borrow.  Each class has a timetabled slot when they can browse the books and take one home to share with their grown-up or read independently.

READING SPINE

We want our school to be a place where children are read to, enjoy, discuss and work with high quality books.  These essential reads are a store of classics, creating a living library inside a child’s mind. This is the ‘Reading Spine’ so that children have access to these high quality texts.

HELPFUL INFORMATION

READING WEBSITES

A range of stories online https://pbskids.org/ 

Fun games for 5-7 year olds https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds 

Fun games for 7-11 year olds https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/spelling-and-grammar 

Fun games for 3-5 year olds https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/3-5-years/letters-and-sounds 

Lots of tips to support your child with reading https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/ 

Search for books by age or theme https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/ 

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

Our community library is located in the schools main reception area and can be used by parents, carers, children and families.

Step into the world of fantasy fiction and take home one of our books to enjoy.

‘A book is a gift you can open again and again’.

Downloads:

► Welcome to Reception’s Reading Meeting 

► Programme Overview Reception and Year 1

► Reception Parent Handbook

► Year 1 Parent Handbook

► How to say the Phase 2 sounds Part 1

► How to say the Phase 2 sounds Part 2

► Tricky Words for Parents Phase 2

► How to say Phase 3 sounds

► Tricky Words for Parents Phase 3

► Tricky Words for Parents Phase 4

► How to say Phase 5 sounds