At Rakegate Primary School we believe that reading is an essential skill which children will use throughout their lives. It is our belief that a child’s reading skills are essential to their success in school, allowing them to access the breadth of the curriculum and improve their communication and language skills.

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 Our mission is to teach every child to read and we are committed to all children learning to read as early in their school journey as possible. We aim to achieve this through the systematic teaching of phonics using the dynamic literacy programme Read Write Inc.

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The National Curriculum and reading (2014)

The English National Curriculum (2014) states “It is essential that by the end of their primary education, all pupils are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject.”  It highlights the importance of using systematic synthetic phonic strategies stating  “Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Underpinning both is the understanding that the letters on the page represent the sounds in spoken words. This is why phonics should be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners (ie unskilled readers) when they start school.”

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It also states that the curriculum aims to ensure that all children:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding,

• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information,

• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language,

• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.

In order to achieve this for our pupils we use the systematic phonic program Read Write Inc.

 

What is Read Write Inc

Read Write Inc is a systematic, rigorous literacy programme which uses synthetic phonics to teach children how to read. Children are taught to apply sound blending skills and word segmenting skills in order to create skilled and confident readers. Children also learn to read and spell words that do not conform to regular phonic patterns (high frequency words) and decode both fiction and non-fiction texts throughout RWI sessions.

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Our Rakegate vision for Read Write Inc

Our vision is to ensure that all children develop the reading skills necessary to achieve their full potential. We are committed to ensuring that our children:

• receive fun, high quality systematic phonic lessons enabling them to become confident, fluent readers,

• have access to a wide range of exciting, stimulating books both fiction and non fiction which are carefully matched to their individual reading level,

• recognise the importance of and enjoy reading for pleasure,

• have opportunities to practice their reading skills both within school and at home.

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