Red Rose Letters and Sounds provides a rigorous and thorough planning programme in order to strengthen the teaching and learning of phonics, and ensure children become enthusiastic and successful readers and writers. 

The programme includes:

• overviews for each phase with termly expectations
• word banks that directly match the teaching of focus graphemes
• additional word banks to broaden and deepen vocabulary in order to provide stretch and challenge
• comprehensive daily planning following revisit / review, teach, practise, apply
• carefully sequenced tricky words and high frequency words with high expectations for application into reading and spelling
• application opportunities planned throughout to ensure blending and segmenting of words and sentences
• regular consolidation and assessment points to support the identification of children on track and those falling behind.

Leading the Implementation of Red Rose Letters and Sounds

Supporting Phonics Beyond Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 2, children who require further support have phonics sessions as an intervention delivered by well-trained teaching assistants and are tracked by the class teacher and reading leads. Phonics assessments are regularly undertaken to make sure individual gaps are targeted. As in Key Stage 1, children who need further support will have access to the Fast Track or Bounce Back programmes (LPDS) in small group interventions, that take place to target specific needs and provide children with the skills they need to read independently

All of our pupils will have equal access to phonics lessons and resources available. Throughout the school, phonics is a priority for all of our children. All efforts are made to support children with their learning, focusing on specific gaps in learning. Pupils with Special Educational Needs are identified and work within their individual level. If needed, they will have an individual action plan and work with support under the direction of the class teacher and SENCO. A range of techniques are used to support these children streaming and small group sessions.

Phonetically Decodable Books

Throughout EYFS and Key Stage 1, reading books are matched to the children's phonic knowledge, while they are learning to read. We use a variety of reading schemes that are colour coded to support children’s reading development, ensuring that each stage provides an appropriate level of progression and challenge within the text. 

The reading schemes used in the Early Years, Key Stage 1 and beyond are: 

• Floppy's Phonics from Oxford Reading Tree
• Phonics Bug from Pearson

The children have access to texts in all curriculum areas that are engaging and age-appropriate. When the children become fluent readers, they independently select texts that are of interest to them.  Books are available both digitally and physically.  Children's fluency is assessed regularly by class teachers.

Guided Reading

We use the Bug Club Guided Reading scheme for our daily guided reading sessions in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.  It uses a dialogic approach to help children achieve comprehension mastery. Whilst deepening their understanding and comprehension with high-quality guided reading books that the children would recommend themselves.  It takes place in all year groups on a daily basis. Children take part in a carousel of activities that involves pre-reading, reading with an adult and completing follow-up activities based on the reading objectives for their year group. Children develop their understanding of a text through effective adult questioning and opportunities to independently respond to the text.

In addition to fostering a love of reading in our pupils, we strive to ensure that by the end of Key Stage 1 our pupils are able to accurately and fluently read age-appropriate books and demonstrate an understanding of what they have read. They can answer questions, make some inferences and explain what has happened so far in what they have read.

At the end of Key Stage 2, we aim to ensure that our pupils leave Barrow URC Primary School with a broad range of reading skills that allow them to demonstrate active reading strategies when reading a variety of texts.

Reading for Pleasure

As a school we pride ourselves on reading for our own pleasure, reading with our peers and reading with our families.  We have a superb school library, which children access on a weekly basis, children are able to take books home and read them with their parents and carers. Every classroom has a reading area, this areas are stocked with a range of high-quality literature and the children are able to access them during D.E.A.R. time. Throughout the year, we celebrate a range of reading theme days including National Poetry Day, Shakespeare  Week and World Book Day.  Children enjoy regular author visits from both local authors, Sophie Stewart and world renowned authors, Julia Donaldson.