At St. Alban's we believe that reading is the greatest gift we can give to our pupils. We strive to provide children with the tools they need to go on to become confident, fluent readers who use reading as a tool to access the wider world. We want to instill a love of reading so that children continue to love books forever.

“Between the pages of a book is a lovely place to be.”

We use the Read Write Inc. programme to teach our children how to read. 

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with fluency and expression using a storyteller’s voice. It is a fast-paced, rigorous and structured phonics programme that helps get every child reading fast and gives teachers the confidence and skills to deliver high-quality teaching every day.

From Reception through to Year 2 we deliver daily phonics and reading sessions. We stream the classes across KS1 so that the children are grouped according to ability. This means that they are reading at their own level, every day. Each group has a designated learning zone within the school with consistent teaching resources and displays.  

Our Reading Leader ensures all pupils are assessed every 6-8 weeks using the online Read Write Inc assessment tracker. All children are grouped in terms of their phonics and reading ability. Feedback and next steps are made clear via reports to every group leader. Some children may need to revise and consolidate a set of sounds, whereas others are ready to move on. Crucially, every child reads books that are matched to their phonic knowledge which means that their everyday reading is tailored to their learning needs. In Year 1 children take part in the ‘Phonics Screening Check’, a national assessment where children are asked to read a variety of read words and pseudo words. In order to ensure the best quality training for staff and outcomes for pupils we have a weekly staff reading training meeting and strive to all become expert reading teachers. Every term we have a visit from a Ruth Miskin Trainer who moderates our self evaluation and provides additional support and training.