Reading is an essential life skill that all children need to have, to be able to independent in their thinking and learning. At St. Mary's, children learn their basic reading skills through Read, Write Inc (RWI). RWI is an inclusive English programme for all children learning to read from Foundation to Year 1. 

At the core of RWI is a lively and vigorous teaching of synthetic phonics. Children learn 44 common sounds in the English language and to sound-blend words for reading (decoding) at the same time as developing handwriting skills and spelling (encoding).

At St. Mary's, we aim to encourage children to:

• Decode texts effortlessly so all their resources can be used to comprehend what they read;
• Spell effortlessly so that all their resources can be directed towards composing their writing.

Around the school, children will be seen:

• Interacting with each other and the teacher;
• Actively engaging with their own learning;
• Praising each other for successful learning;
• Fully understanding what they are learning and why.

Teachers will be seen who teach according to the 5Ps:

• Pace - engaging all children, all the time;
• Praise - encouraging and praising effective learning behaviours
• Purpose - modelling and 'thinking out loud' to ensure all children understand what, and why, they are learning;
• Passion - showing a love for the lessons through energy, enthusiasm and a little exagerration;
• Perseverance - every child a reader.

RWI lessons are taught every morning in Foundation Stage and KS1, with children being placed in small working groups around school, according to their phonics ability. A RWI lead teacher checks lessons and ensures that children are appropriately supported and challenged, enabling same-day interventions and pre- and post-learning to take place in the afternoon.

Summative assessments happen every half term to ensure that children are accessing the correct phonics group, in addition to the formative assessments that occur in every lesson.

Reading at home booklet 1

This booklet will help you support your child at home if they are in Red, Green and Purple groups for RWI in school.

Reading at home booklet 2

This booklet will help you support your child at home if they are in Pink, Orange, Yellow, Blue or Grey groups for RWI in school. 

If you are unsure about which group your child is currently in, please speak to or ClassDojo message your child's class teacher who will be happy to help. 

Free ebooks to access at home

Your child is being taught to read using the RWI programme. Your child will be sent home a book to practise reading every night which will be changed weekly. However, we know that some parents read with their child more than once a day and would like to access books at the appropriate level to support their child further. The link below will provide free ebooks for you to read with your child. Please only read the books in your child's RWI colour group as we would like them to practise the sounds and skills they are learning at home.

Free eBook library | Oxford Owl from Oxford University Press