‘Teach a child to read and keep that child reading and we will change everything.​ And I mean everything.’​  Jeanette Winterson​

At Harcourt Primary, we follow a fast-paced, rigorous and structured phonics programme called Read Write Inc, developed by Ruth Miskin, which helps get every child reading fast and gives teachers the confidence and skills to deliver high-quality teaching every day. We teach children from their first full day in EYFS and throughout KS1 how to break down and decode words into their separate sound components, known as phonemes.

There are 44 phonemes (sounds) and over 150 graphemes (letter combinations) taught throughout the programme, all of which are embedded in a range of fiction and non-fiction books. The words are taught prior to reading a book to ensure children are equipped at decoding them; we call this ‘Fred Talk’. Fred is a fictional character who the children love and helps them with their phonics.

 Every child is encouraged to read the text for meaning, with three readings of each story to ensure that the story is understood and read with fluency and expression. Children are assessed in Phonics at the end of every half term and re-grouped according to what they know, this ensures that children are taught at the appropriate challenge level and are supported in smaller groups to achieve their next steps.

Children who struggle with phonics are given extra support throughout the day to help them keep up with phonics and not fall behind. In addition to the phonics teaching, every class has a story time session every day and children are encouraged to read for pleasure as we believe reading holds the key to future life-long learning.

Watch this video to see how to help your child learn their phonics pure sounds. RWI Video

This link has more information about the RWI scheme for parents/carers. RWI Information for parents.