‘Our aim at Highcliffe is for all children to be readers and to enjoy reading.’

Phonics

At Highcliffe we teach phonics through Sounds-Write. Sounds-Write is a linguistic phonics approach (speech to print) and a systematic synthetic phonics programme validated by the Department for Education in England. It is a highly structured, cumulative, multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling across the whole school (Reception to KS2). Students are taught the Initial Code in Reception and cover the Extended Code and how to read Polysyllabic Words during Years 1 and 2. They consolidate this knowledge with a focus on spelling during the rest of KS2. Phonics is taught for 30 minutes daily in KS1 and also taught regularly in KS2.

Sounds-Write teaches Conceptual Knowledge and Skills through the Initial Code and Extended Code.

Conceptual Knowledge teaches that

  • Letters are symbols or spellings that represent sounds.
  • A sound may be spelled by 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters.
  • The same sound can be spelled in more than one way.
  • Many spellings can represent more than one sound.

Skills taught are:

  • Blending – the ability to push sounds together to build words.
  • Segmenting – the ability to pull apart the individual sounds in words.
  • Phoneme manipulation – the ability to insert sounds into and delete sounds out of words.  This skill is necessary to test our alternatives for spellings that represent more than one sound.

Lessons follow a systematic clear structure, use a concise consistent language and consolidate learning with plenty of rehearsal and repetition.  The skills of blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation are constantly practised.  

Sounds-Write teaches children to discriminate the exact shapes of letters by looking at them, copying them and saying the precise sounds that they represent in speech. Children are using touch, sight, sound and speech and through this are learning that there is a direct connection between what they see and what they hear.  

Help your child to read and write

  • help your child take their first steps in reading and spelling
  • understand how to help your child build, write and read simple cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words
  • understand how to correct your child when they make a mistake in their reading or writing simple words
  • have a basic understanding of how phonics works

https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers

Reading

At Highcliffe we want all children to enjoy reading, develop a love of books and become lifelong readers.  We promote reading for pleasure in many ways at Highcliffe through:

  • Daily timetabled reading for pleasure and class story sessions.  
  • Class authors – each year classes adopt a class author and books by that author are displayed and read regularly. 
  • A half termly whole school Story Safari when children choose a story to listen to. 
  • A half termly Reading Newsletter which promotes new books and recommends reads for all phases of school.
  • Twice annual Breakfast Bonanza when families are invited into school to read with their children and share breakfast in comfortable and cosy spaces around school. 
  • A Staff Book Club so the children see the adults in school as readers which promotes book talk and encourages recommendations.
  • Weekly timetabled library sessions. 
  • Every classroom having an inviting interactive reading area in which children can explore a wide range of texts.  Reading areas include ‘What we have read’, ‘Recommended reads’ and ‘What we are reading this week’.

    Home Reading Books

    From Reception to Year 3 children take home two books, one book is for them to read to an adult. These books are carefully selected and are closely matched to the Code and Unit that they are working on and the sounds that they already know.  We use Sounds-Write and Dandelion Phonically Decodable Reading Books so that children can use and apply their phonics knowledge.  When children are reading independently, accurately and with some fluency they begin to choose from year group/class book boxes. The second book that children take home is for sharing and for an adult to read to them. Both books are changed twice a week and we ask parents to listen to their child read the book three times to encourage fluency and understanding.

    Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1

    Children in Foundation Stage (in the summer term) and Key Stage 1 read with an adult in regular Guided Reading sessions. Sets of phonically decodable reading books are available for guided reading sessions in addition to sets of other fiction and non-fiction books. Comprehension is taught weekly and Reciprocal Reading techniques are used in reading activities across the curriculum. 

    KS2 – Whole Class Reading

    In Key Stage 2 reading is taught to the whole class, with:

    • Regular sessions each week
    • Use of novels/books used as much as possible
    • Longer, independent reading sessions to build stamina – building up to fifteen minutes in UKS2;
    • Activities planned around explicit curriculum objectives – to inform accurate assessment
    • Activities to include: find and copy; order statements; match statements; explain meaning, as well as straight comprehension questions 

    Reading Plus is used in Upper Key Stage 2. It is an online programme that teaches silent reading, comprehension and vocabulary.  The programme meets each pupil’s individual reading level.