At St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, we have designed our early reading curriculum with the intent that all children, regardless of background, will become fluent, insightful readers. We have developed a curriculum that will instil in all children a love of reading that we anticipate will stay with them for life. We understand that children who are confident, adept readers will be empowered to succeed in other areas. We understand that parents and carers play a vital role in the development of early reading and in nurturing positive attitudes towards reading. We welcome and promote this partnership.

We will deliver an early reading program that comprises of:

• Direct focused RWI phonics, which is taught daily in Reception and Key Stage One.
• Synthetic phonics is taught progressively as an effective way of developing children’s reading and spelling skills. The teaching of sight-recognition words (RWI red words) is integrated into the teaching sequence and is further supported at home through home/school word boxes.
• Once they have developed the ability to blend simple words, children will read (in school and at home) from books containing the sounds that they know, whilst they continue to learn further sounds in phonics lessons.
• Oral blending activities and early reading opportunities are threaded into the curriculum and reinforced throughout  the school day
• Additional support will be provided each day for specific children

Teachers instil in children a love of literature; the best stories and poems through

• Daily ‘rhyme time’ in  Reception and Year One in which children recite and sing a wide selection of nursery rhymes and poems.
• Daily story time in all year groups in which children enjoy carefully selected books