Implementation

At The Ridge we use the Sounds-Write approach for the teaching of phonics. Sounds-Write begins with the sounds of the English language and teaches children the matching spelling correspondences. Through the Sounds-Write approach, children master the skills of segmenting, blending and manipulating sounds in order to read and spell. They also learn the alphabetic code knowledge needed in order to read accurately and fluently, as well as the key concepts about the alphabetic code. These concepts are:

1. letters are symbols that represent sounds.
2. sounds can be spelled using 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters.
3. the same sound can be spelled in different ways.
4. the same spelling can represent different sounds.

Children are also taught the following skills:

• Segmenting
• Blending
• Phoneme Manipulation

What is taught?

In Reception, children learn the Initial Code and practice the three skills. They also become secure in their understanding of concept 1 and are introduced to concept 2. The Initial Code focuses upon the 1:1 sound-spelling correspondences. By learning these, children are able to decode (read) and encode (spell) a range of words and sentences. Towards the end of the initial code, children explore concept 2 further - two letters representing 1 sound, e.g. sh, ll, ss. Sounds-Write lessons are structured so that children revisit and review learning. For this reason, when children acquire new code knowledge, they are able to assimilate it as they have strong conceptual understanding and a good grasp of the three core skills. Furthermore, it also helps them to develop confidence and trust in the code and see that it is reversible process.

Once children have mastered the Initial Code, they will continue to practice the three key skills and start learning the Extended Code. The Extended Code teaches concepts 2, 3 and 4. Children will read and write monosyllabic and polysyllabic words at an age appropriate level. The sounds and spellings are presented in an order which allows pupils to read the greatest number of words as early as possible. Some sounds are visited twice at differing levels of difficulty. In Year 1, children cover 'First Spellings' whilst in Year 2 they learn 'More Spellings'. First Spellings provides children with a limited number of spellings for a sound whilst More Spellings revisits sounds and provides a more complete list of spellings that children are likely to encounter in their reading.

Learning the Extended Code is a life-long process. However, once children are secure with the key concepts and have mastered the key skills, if they come across an unfamiliar sound-spelling correspondence, they have a secure understanding of how the code works to add new information to their existing knowledge (schema).

The Sounds-Write process supports our writing approach as it focuses on encoding. In Sounds-Write there is no delay between decoding and encoding, as soon as children have a go at reading at word then they write it. In lessons where children are writing a word which contains sound-spellings not yet taught, teachers will use it as an incidental teaching opportunity. In all classes, children have an alphabetic code chart which contains the most common sound-spelling correspondences.

To find out more about how to support reading at home, we strongly encourage parents to access the free Sounds-Write online course https://www.udemy.com/user/54e5c34e6b89b/ 

How is it taught?

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have a daily 30-minute phonics session. Children are taught as a whole class. The Ridge has a mastery approach to the teaching of reading; all children are scaffolded to ensure that they make the progress they are capable of, and, as a consequence, no ceiling is placed on any child's educational opportunities in reading.

In order for children to master the conceptual understanding, master the key skills and develop secure code knowledge, they need repeated exposure through the sensory (physical) manipulation of the age-appropriate material they are working with. Therefore, a typical Sounds-Write lesson will include 50% new learning, 40% revision and review of prior learning and 10% working on the mastery of the key skills. Lessons are multi-sensory in order to aid memory and assimilation of new information - it also helps concentration too! Sounds are taught in the context of whole words and lessons include sorting and grouping in categories as we know all of these things aid memory.

Reading Materials

Books will be linked to the children's learning in their Phonics lessons. However, the books that children will be bringing home will cover learning that children have already done - deliberately so! In Phonics lessons, children are having to learn the correspondences between the sounds of the English language and the spellings which represent them, as well as practising the skills of segmenting, blending and manipulating sounds. Furthermore, they are also learning that sounds can be represented by 1, 2, 3 or 4 letters, that the same sound can be spelled in more than one way and that a spelling can represent more than one sound! There is a lot of information to take on board! Therefore, reading a book containing this brand new learning is a challenge! Children will access challenging books but will do so in class under the guidance of their teacher. The home reader books will contain prior learning so that they can keep practising their reading skills and embedding their knowledge of the alphabetic code. This will help their reading to become automatic which in turn will develop their fluency and comprehension.

In Reception and at the start of Year 1, books will be decodeable. As children move through Year 1 and by the time they are in Year 2 and are more confident with the Extended Code, conceptual understanding and skills, they may bring back a word which contains sounds-spelling correspondences that have not yet been explicitly taught. These can be used as informal teaching opportunities.

Please note that in Reception and Year 1, books may contain 'high-frequency words' such as 'is' 'of' 'the' 'was' whose spellings (at this stage in their learning) are not immediately transparent to them. Therefore, the adult reader should take responsibility for reading these words. Introduce the words in the following way:

"This is 'of',"then immediately point in the right order, to the two spellings and saying the two sounds as you do so.

Parent Reading Workshops will be held in each term but please do always ask if you want help explaining a concept to your child - we know it can be tricky!

Books are routinely monitored by the class teacher. Please ensure that reading diaries are signed to say the book has been read.

Bridging Books

Once children are confident with the conceptual understanding, skills and alphabetic code, we send them home with a 'Bridging Book', this may be in addition to their decodeable book or instead of. Bridging Books help children to continue to apply their phonics knowledge and skills whilst also developing their reading stamina, developing their knowledge of different authors, exposing them to a range of texts and, ultimately, helping them take steps towards being independent, confidence readers who love it!

Eventually, as children become more proficient with their reading, they will no longer need phonics and bridging books.

You can find out more about Sounds-Write, including information for parents here: https://www.sounds-write.co.uk/page-84-downloads-links-for-parents-teachers.aspx 

SEND and Disadvantaged Pupils

Children who need extra support in Key Stage 1, and those identified in Key Stage 2, are monitored and carefully assessed. Timely and appropriate interventions are put in place with Sounds-Write trained members of staff. They are also heard read more frequently so that they get extra practice of the key skills, further exposure to the code and support to develop their conceptual understanding. 

The Reading Spine

Reading for pleasure has social benefits as well and can make people feel more connected to the wider community. Reading increases a person's understanding of their own identity, improves empathy and gives them an insight into the world view of others (The Reading Agency 2015).

The Ridge's Reading Spine underpins the reading and writing curriculum and includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry including nursery rhymes. The books on the reading spine are read aloud to children daily so that all children come together and experience an expert reader reading aloud a challenging text. The texts on the reading spine are the core books which we believe will help shape children as readers, writers and empathetic, thoughtful and curious citizens.

As part of the reading spine, children also listen to, and in some instances learn off by heart and perform, poems. The poems selected are poems that we feel all children should have heard and learned off by heart. Poetry develops children as readers and writers, offers whole texts in a manageable way, develops memory, text appreciation, higher-order thinking skills and is enjoyable!

Reading Fluency

At The Ridge, explicit teaching of reading fluency takes place in every reading lesson. However, we recognise that some children require extra fluency practice. In Key Stage 2, we have set texts which teachers select passages from to teach reading fluency. These texts can be used in isolation or as part of an intervention program. The texts are all rich in terms of the vocabulary and sentence structures but also develop children's knowledge of the world and understanding of others. Poetry is also excellent for developing reading fluency. All children in school learn poetry off by heart and have the opportunity to perform it. Some of the poems children learn are listed below.

Reading for Pleasure

At The Ridge we use evidence to inform our practice. We therefore follow the research from The Open University into Reading for Pleasure.

The Open University states that there are four strands which are interlinked and are essential for developing Reading for Pleasure. They are:

Learner-led

Independent

Social

Texts that temp

Teachers use this to inform their planning so that they carefully consider how to maximize the impact of reading time and read alouds, conduct informal book talk around tempting texts and develop children's reading agency and social interactions as readers.

At The Ridge, we intend for all children to be a part of memorable, enjoyable reading experiences. Including:

• Participating in World Book Day
• Participating in a range of literacy themed events, e.g. National Poetry Day and Libraries Week
• Book swaps
• Listening to reading by other children and various adults
• Visits to the school library and local library
• Visits from authors and illustrators
• Opportunities to recommend books to each other and receive recommendations
• Knowledgeable staff who can recommend books and chat to them about their reading choices and preferences

Reading Comprehension Texts

At The Ridge, our Reading curriculum follows the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum in England.

In Key Stage 1 and 2, we teach Reading using ‘Curriculum by Unity Partnership’ (CUSP).

CUSP is highly ambitious and unapologetically aspirational. The Reading curriculum is cohesive and carefully sequenced to ensure that key learning is taught progressively, revisited, consolidated and embedded over time. It is knowledge and vocabulary rich and is built upon the latest research around the teaching of comprehension, fluency and vocabulary.

The Reading Curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure that there are a variety of representations in the literature that children are exposed to and there is a balance of poetry, non-fiction, and fiction including short stories. Texts are deliberately challenging so that they are worthy of deep discussion and investigation and shape children as readers and citizens.

In Key Stage 1, children have 2 or 3 thirty minute CUSP reading lessons per week. In Key Stage 2, lessons are daily and are between 30 and 40 minutes in length. Lessons incorporate the teaching of vocabulary, fluency, comprehension strategies and 'Book Talk'. Each unit has a main text but children will also study other complementary texts which are designed to deepen their understanding of the main text and of the wider world.

Currently, Reception use specifically chosen books to stimulate oral comprehension, book talk and to work in parallel with Sounds-Write. Note that Reception texts may not be taught in the sequence outlined here. 

The texts that children study during CUSP reading lessons can be found here: