Reading and Phonics

Reading

Knowledge is a seed that grows when you read.

We are a reading school! We are passionate about growing our children into fluent, confident readers.

Reading is given high priority at Aston Clinton; no other skill is more important than reading. It is the gateway to all other knowledge. If children do not learn to read efficiently, the path is blocked to every subject they encounter in their school years. 

At Aston Clinton, we are committed to teaching our pupils to become skilled readers who develop a comprehensive understanding of words, language and texts as they move through school.

They learn to read and then read to learn.

Our aim is to ensure that pupils develop a love of reading so that they can read for purpose and for pleasure. Moreover reading for pleasure, often and with enthusiasm, lays the foundations for life; you interact, react, empathise and understand the tools to express yourself and interpret life. Can you remember the first book that truly 'hooked' you?  

We provide children with a range of reading opportunities and strategies in order to do this including:

• A systematic approach to the teaching of phonics in EYFS and KS1
• A carefully designed reading scheme to ensure books are closely matched to ability
• Enabling children to become fluent readers with automaticity, accuracy and prosody
• A developed reading spine to engage and encourage reading for pleasure
• Wider reading opportunities linked to all areas of the curriculum

At Aston Clinton, we carefully nurture each aspect of the child’s reading journey.  The skills of reading are carefully woven into our teaching and learning as we understand that reading is a multifaceted skill that gradually acquired over years of instruction and practise.

Phonics

Here at Aston Clinton School, we follow The Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Phonics Programme. This is a DfE approved programme, which will provide our children with a consistent and systematic programme for learning to read. 

Children will still be taking part in daily Phonics lessons in their classes, and additionally will be taught the skills to read effectively, in small groups three times a week. We will be assessing children’s reading skills more regularly and providing keep up sessions for children who are requiring extra support. These changes are going raise standards in reading skills for all of our children. 

The books that children will be reading in school and at home will be matched to our new Reading Programme, and therefore will be exactly matched to each child’s reading ability.  

Our reading curriculum aims to give our children experiences with books at the heart of the learning we provide. Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised is going to help our children to develop a passion for reading, as well as the skills to read words and sentences.  

Children will be sent home with 2 books each week: 

• A fully decodable book for your child to practise their learnt reading skills at home. This is the book that we would like you to support your child to read. This book will contain written sounds and tricky words that your child has already learnt in school. Your child will also be reading this book in school with a member of staff to develop their decoding, prosody and comprehension. For this reason, this book will appear easier for your child to read than the levelled books we used to send home with children. There is a reason for this - recent research shows that this is the best way to help children to learn to read. 
   

• A shared reading book, which will be a high-quality picture book intended to develop your child’s passion for reading. This book will not be matched to your child’s reading level, and therefore they are not to attempt to read the words in this book. This book is intended for your child to share with an adult or an older sibling, to enjoy the story and pictures without having to worry about applying their skills. Whilst you are sharing this book with your child, we recommend discussing the story and having enjoyable conversations such as what happened so far, what might happen next and what they liked or disliked about the story. 

We hope you and your child have many hours of enjoyable reading at home! 

You can access further information and online resources via the Little Wandle website linked below and find attached printed resources for you to use at home with your child, which explains how sounds should be pronounced.