The Subject Leader for Reading/Phonics is Mrs Coghlan

HAMPSTHWAITE CURRICULUM INTENT

Education at Hampsthwaite is based on the National Curriculum. Learning is sequenced in a way that ensures progression and the development of key knowledge and skills – embedding these within the children’s long term memory. We strive to ensure that our children’s creativity, interests and talents are nurtured so that they will be able to ‘Enjoy, Achieve and Flourish’ during their time with us.

Hampsthwaite Primary School – Literacy/English Vision

At Hampsthwaite Primary School we believe literacy and communication to be key life skills. We ensure all children are given the skills and knowledge to help them become effective communicators and we equip them with the spoken and written language to be effective learners in all areas of the curriculum. We understand that children will have varied interests in different aspects of English and we work hard to help each individual enjoy this area of the curriculum and be engaged and inspired. We are aware of some of the children’s preferences and opinions linked to aspects of English and because we know them as individuals we can ensure that the curriculum can be tailored to suit the child where possible, ensuring children have opportunities to be creative. We provide the children with a range of experiences and tasks to help them progress in English, taking account of all learning styles and preferred ways of working, recording etc. As a staff we use ongoing assessment to ensure we can meet the needs of all children. Children are encouraged to reflect on their individual learning experiences and achievements and to talk about their journey with adults and peers when reviewing their learning. 

In reading we intend to:  

• to foster an enthusiasm for, and love of reading, a wide range of literature for life  

• develop independent readers, who have the stamina to engage with age-appropriate texts  

• expanded children’s vocabulary  

• enable children to use a full range of reading cues (phonic, graphic, syntactic, contextual) to monitor their reading and correct their own mistakes  

In phonics and early reading we intend to:   

• present high quality, systematic phonic work as defined by our phonics programme

• enable children to start learning phonic knowledge and skills by the age of four, with the expectation that they will become fluent readers, having secured word building and recognition skills, by the end of Key Stage One  

• ensure that the children apply phonic knowledge as their first approach to reading and spelling, even though all words do not conform to regular phonic patterns 

Phonics and Early Reading

To ensure that children become confident readers we will do the following

• Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at  school, and will support and encourage parents to do the same at home.

• Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home

• Teach discreate phonics lessons from Nursery until they no longer need to use phonics to help them to read. We use the validated phonics programme 'Monster Phonics'.

What is Monster Phonics?

Monster Phonics is the DfE validated child-centred phonics programme that rapidly improves results. Children make progress because the approach is meaningful, interactive, and easy to understand, creating high engagement.

The systematic colour-coding of graphemes linked to phoneme monsters makes phonics easier to understand. Children also love the monsters, who bring phonics to life. The activities are multisensory requiring reading, writing, singing and actions.

How does it work?

• Monster Phonics uses grapheme-phoneme correspondence as the first and foremost approach

• Teaching is supported by using colour and monster sound cues to make the grapheme-phoneme correspondence explicit and easier to learn

• It has decodable books aligned to the programme to send as an e-book 

• Children read the linked Guided reading books in groups

• Intervention for every learning objective to keep up and not catch up

• Letter formation and handwriting for every grapheme

• Parent logins and phonics webinars to ensure parents are fully equipped to support their child

Reading

At Hampsthwaite we enjoy reading in a range of different forms to help our children develop fluency and understanding

• 1:1 reading to an adult

• Independent reading

• Frequent sharing of class books

• Group guided reading (as appropriate)

• Whole class guided reading - using VIPERS

We help children to develop a love of reading through the following

• Carefully chosen books for class books and VIPERS texts

• Weekly class visits to the school library

• After school Library Club for all children including Nursery

• KS1 and KS2 Scrapbook used to share recommended reads

• Class poetry recitals in Whole School Worship

• Whole school Competitions on Seesaw

• An ever-growing range of Multicultural books thanks to our 'Sponsor a Book' scheme

• Visits from published authors and illustrators e.g. Emma Carroll, Axel Scheffler

• KS1 weekly Big Read where parents can stay and read in the classroom every Friday morning

• Recommended Reads in our Fortnightly Newsletter

• Headteacher Hot Chocolate incentive each week

SUPPORTING SEN CHILDREN IN READING AND PHONICS

At Hampsthwaite School we aim to develop a love of reading in all our children. We are aware that SEN children often find reading an area that can be particularly challenging.

We have a wide variety of books available to borrow in our School Library and are fortunate enough to regularly buy some reads recommended by our less able or reluctant readers. 

We also have online subscriptions to e-books and phonics games that can be targeted for individual children to help fill in gaps and consolidate learning from additional support lessons. 

The children have Monster Phonics intervention lessons to ensure they are given every opportunity to keep up with their peers or fill in any gaps. 

As a school we use VIPERS to ensure all aspects of reading comprehension are covered in our reading lessons. Children take part in additional small group VIPERS reading sessions using a book of an appropriate level for them if needed.