At Fulwood and Cadley Primary School, we believe that learning to read is one of the most important things a child will learn to do.

Our aim is for every child to become a confident, fluent and enthusiastic reader. We recognise that secure phonics knowledge, accurate decoding and increasing fluency provide the foundations children need to understand, enjoy and learn from the books they read.

We have high expectations for all pupils and are committed to identifying children who require additional support quickly so that they can keep up with their peers and experience success as readers.

How We Teach Phonics

We use Red Rose Letters and Sounds, a systematic synthetic phonics programme, to teach early reading.

Phonics is taught explicitly and systematically, enabling children to build their knowledge of the alphabetic code and apply this knowledge when reading and spelling.

Children are taught to recognise grapheme-phoneme correspondences, blend sounds together to read words and segment words to support spelling. Previously taught sounds and words are regularly revisited so that learning becomes increasingly secure and automatic.

Children are given frequent opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge both within phonics lessons and when reading appropriately matched texts.

Assessment and Keeping Up

Children's progress in phonics is carefully monitored and formally assessed towards the end of each half term.

Assessment information enables teachers to identify what each child knows securely and where there may be gaps in their phonics knowledge. Teaching and additional support can then be closely matched to children's needs.

Where children are at risk of falling behind, targeted keep-up and additional practice are provided. Children requiring further support receive focused teaching based upon their identified gaps rather than waiting until difficulties become established.

Children who continue to require phonics support beyond Key Stage 1 receive appropriate intervention to enable them to develop the decoding skills and fluency they need.

Reading Books and Developing Fluency

Children who are still developing their phonics knowledge read decodable books that are closely matched to the sounds they have been taught.

We ask children to read their decodable reading book three times at home.

Rereading is an important part of learning to read. The first read provides an opportunity to practise accurate decoding. Subsequent reads help children become increasingly automatic and fluent, allowing greater attention to be given to expression, meaning and understanding.

Once the book has been read three times and this has been recorded and signed in the child's reading record, the class team will support the child to change their book.

Our aim is not simply for children to be able to decode a book once, but for them to develop the accuracy, automaticity and fluency needed to become confident readers.

Moving Beyond Decodable Books

As children become secure in phonics and increasingly fluent, they progress onto our wider reading system.

We use PM Benchmarking to assess children's reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension and to ensure that the books they read provide an appropriate level of challenge.

Children are expected to demonstrate approximately 95% reading accuracy alongside secure comprehension before progressing through the levels.

Children working from PM Level 15 and above are increasingly independent readers. At this stage, children are able to change their own reading books and are not expected to reread the same book three times. Their home reading should still be recorded in their reading record.

Children continue to progress through PM Benchmarking until they demonstrate the fluency and comprehension required to become an independent free reader.

Reading at Home

Reading at home makes an important contribution to children's development as readers.

We encourage children to read regularly with an adult and ask parents and carers to record this in their child's reading record.

Reading at home does not have to be limited to a school reading book. Children can also enjoy library books, stories, information books, comics, magazines, poetry and other appropriate texts.

Being read to by an adult is equally valuable, particularly for younger children. Sharing stories exposes children to vocabulary, language structures and ideas that may be beyond the books they can yet read independently.

We therefore encourage families to read with, read to and talk about books with their children as often as possible.

Reading for Pleasure

Learning the mechanics of reading is only part of becoming a reader.

We want children to develop a genuine love of books and reading. Children are regularly exposed to high-quality texts, stories, poetry and non-fiction and are given opportunities to talk about books, hear adults reading aloud and make choices about what they would like to read.

Our classrooms and wider school environment promote reading as something to be enjoyed, shared and valued.

We recognise that children's interests are different and encourage them to explore a broad range of reading material so that every child can begin to develop their own reading identity.

Our Reading Passports

Our Reading Passports are an important part of developing a strong reading culture across Fulwood and Cadley.

Children have their own individual Reading Passport, which encourages them to explore a broad and varied range of books and celebrate their reading journey. Rather than always choosing the same type of text, children are encouraged to discover new authors, genres, themes and styles of writing.

Reading Passports provide children with a sense of ownership and achievement while helping them recognise themselves as readers.

Alongside individual passports, each class has a Reading Passport board. This provides a visible celebration of the class's shared reading journey and encourages children to recommend books, discuss what they have read and celebrate reading achievements together.

The class board helps make reading visible within our classrooms and supports conversations about books between children and adults.

Together, our individual passports and class boards help us to create a community in which children share, recommend, discover and celebrate books, supporting our aim for every child to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Working in Partnership with Families

Parents and carers play an essential role in helping children become successful readers.

Regular reading at home, rereading decodable books when appropriate, talking about stories and celebrating children's progress all contribute to developing confidence and fluency.

If a child experiences difficulty with reading, we encourage families to speak to their child's class teacher so that school and home can work together to provide appropriate support.

Our Aim

By providing high-quality phonics teaching, carefully matched reading material, regular assessment, timely intervention and a strong culture of reading for pleasure, our aim is for every child to develop the foundations they need to become a fluent, confident and enthusiastic lifelong reader.