Phonics

Our school curriculum is driven and shaped by our school vision, which informs everything that we do.

St Nicholas provides a welcoming, inclusive and aspirational learning environment at the heart of its community. We nurture, encourage and support all children, adults and their families to be the best as God intended. Following God’s example of love and trust, we develop resilience and creativity in all we do.

Learning, loving and encouraging through Christ.

An uncompromising focus on pupils’ personal development has made St Nicholas Church of England Primary Academy a place where pupils always come first. Ofsted 2019

At St Nicholas, our Key Stage 1 classes teach daily phonics lessons to ensure every child is a successful reader.

We follow the successful Ruth Miskin Read, Write Inc phonics programme; grouping children according to their reading ability and reading level.

Read, Write Inc is a systematic and dynamic literacy programme rooted in phonics. We teach children how to break down and decode words into their separate sounds components, known as phonemes. There are 44 phonemes taught throughout the programme, all of which are embedded in a range of fiction and non-fiction books. The words are taught prior to reading a book to ensure children are equipped at decoding them; we call this ‘Fred Talk’.

Fred is a Read, Write Inc character that only speaks and understands pure sounds (sounds in a word before they are blended).

How to Help at Home

Ruth Miskin has a fantastic website that offers a range of videos explaining how to support your child at home: www.ruthmiskin.com/en/parents

Please ask your child what colour book they are reading in Read, Write Inc to guide you on where to look on the website.

If you would like any further information about Read, Write Inc please speak to Miss Common our Reading Leader, or see many of the resources below.