At St. Joseph's, we believe that being able to read and write are vital life skills that open the door to learning. We passionately believe in helping children to develop not only the technical skills of reading and writing, but also in creating a true love for literature and the different genres of writing.

Phonics

All of our teaching staff have been trained in the phonics programme ‘Sounds-Write’, one of the DfE approved schemes for the teaching of phonics. Our teaching of reading and writing begins very early on when children join in Reception and continues throughout their time with us.

Sounds Write is a linguistic phonics programme, starting with what children learn naturally-spoken language. The knowledge of sounds and symbols is developed through this context and we believe that a strong and consistent approach to the teaching of phonics is vital for our children to begin to access the rest of the curriculum.

Find out more about the teaching of Sounds Write at St Joseph's here:

https://www.loom.com/share/15527bfa94b940f1acecb09c16d28752

Sounds Write is used in conjunction with many other strategies to help children to begin to read and write. 

Reading

Books are a part of every day life at St Joseph's and our whole curriculum is underpinned by quality texts. Children are read to every day in school through our story times. In key stage 1, the children read independently every day, either reading their decodable reading book aligned with Sounds Write or through daily supported reading, which develops not only children's fluency with reading, but their comprehension as well.

How to support reading at home

Reading with your child at home is a key. The more your child can practice their reading skills and see that reading is valued at home, the more they will develop their confidence and a true love of reading. The OU have come up with guides and videos to support parents with this, which you will find attached below, alongside suggested books to be read with different age groups, alongside QR codes which link to online versions of the books.