At The Bliss Charity School, we recognise that learning to read is the most important skill a child will learn at school. It unlocks a child’s ability to learn across the curriculum. Our goal is to ensure children gain a fluent ability to communicate, read at an early age and foster a love for reading.

Children will be taught to decode and blend quickly and accurately as part of the early teaching of word reading. This is done during daily Read Write Inc. phonic sessions from Reception to KS1. Through half termly assessments, we ensure that children are working at a challenge level in a group matched to their ability. Children receive additional support, where needed, to help them on their journey to becoming a confident reader. This support may continue into KS2.

Children are given many other additional opportunities throughout the day and throughout the school to read for pleasure. These are often topic linked to hook children’s interest and link their learning across the curriculum.

At The Bliss Charity School, we use the DFE validates programme Read Write Inc. (RWInc) to teach phonics every day. This programme provides a discrete, consistent and structured approach to teach every child read by the end of KS1.

Daily sessions are completed in Reception to Class 2. The programme is then continued into KS2 for targeted children who need extra support with the mechanics of reading. All sessions are led by trained members of staff.

Children are assessed every half term and placed into homogenous groups, with matched reading books to their ability. Sessions include the learning of the English alphabetic code, along with the alternative graphemes for each phoneme. They are taught to decode and blend words together and look out for ‘tricky/red’ words (common exception words). Children will apply these skills to read sentences in high quality books that are matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics. They will have the chance to re-read these texts and improve their fluency.

Children take home a RWInc book which is matched to their phonic knowledge. They also take home a sharing book of their own choosing.

All children’s progress is tracked through the half-termly assessments. Children in Reception and KS1 who need more support will receive additional phonics interventions throughout the week to address gaps in their knowledge or fluency. Children who still require the RWInc programme in KS2, receive these discrete sessions in addition to their classroom practise across the week.

As readers, when children leave KS1 they are able to read words quickly and fluently without overtly sounding out. Children can demonstrate through assessments, evidence of work and data that they understand and show an interest of what they have read and use their phonetic skills to decode unfamiliar words. All pupils, including our lowest readers, make sufficient progress.

Pupils are familiar with and enjoy listening to a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction. They develop a love for reading.

Consequently, by the end of their primary education at Bliss, pupils are able to read fluently and confidently in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education.