Phonics Intent 

The successful teaching of reading and spelling is dependent on the successful teaching of phonics.  Phonics is the understanding of how the letters of the English language (graphemes) represent the sounds of the English language (phonemes). The skill of blending individual or groups of letters together to make sounds is called phonic knowledge and is shown to be one of the most secure and best-evidenced methods of teaching children to read and then spell.  Synthetic phonics teaching is where children are explicitly taught the correspondences between letters and sounds as well as the skill of blending the individual sounds together to read.  The term synthetic refers to the verb ‘synthesise’ meaning to combine.  Synthesising sounds is necessary for reading, and segmenting words into individual sounds is needed for spelling.  Our aim is that children will learn to read phonics in a way that is carefully sequenced; adaptive to their needs and progression; and geared in a way to make learning to read rewarding and fun.  

At Clore Shalom we aim for all our children to become fluent, confident readers who are passionate about reading. Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! Reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners. We can achieve this together through:

• Read Write Inc, a programme to help your child read
• Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily; at home and at school
• Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home

We use Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) from Reception to Year 2 to give your child the best possible start with their literacy. We have put together a guide to how the RWI programme works together with some useful links. Mrs Scott is our Read Write Inc lead teacher, so if you have questions about RWI, please email the school office. Please take the time to read this invaluable information as it will help you to support your child with their reading.