Phonics
At Harrold Primary Academy, we follow the Read, Write, Inc. phonics programme.
Read, Write, Inc. is a phonics programme which meets the higher expectations of both the National Curriculum and Harrold's own curriculum and it uses effective assessment to accelerate every child’s progress. RWInc was developed by Ruth Miskin. It provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching phonics and literacy, designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers.
Utilising the Read Write Inc programme, staff teach the children to pronounce letters using ‘precise pronunciation’ or ‘pure sounds’. When teaching phonics, it is important to pronounce ‘pure sounds’. For example, the sound /m/ is pronounced ‘mmmm’ and not ‘muh’ or ’em’. This makes it much easier for children to blend sounds together to read.
Read Write Inc. phonics is used to teach younger children to phonetically decode and develop early reading fluency and skills. In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Year 1, decodable reading books are matched to the phonics children are learning in class so young learners can consolidate their growing reading skills at home. As children begin to master their reading, a book banding system is used across school to match each child to a specific range of reading books. Children have a wide choice of books within each band which include a range of genres and authors. Children take these books home to read and are encouraged to read to an adult at home daily.
