All pupils were given a Phonics and Reading leaflet today to take home fortheir parents. The leaflet tells you about all the developments and new initiatives that have been or are being implemented this term to promote and enhance the teaching of reading throughout the school.
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This leaflet is to inform you of important changes in terms of reading and phonics here at St Matthew’s Primary School.
As a school we have been working exceptionally hard to improve pupil progress across the school in both these areas.
We have updated our Reading Policy and created a brand new Phonics Policy. Both of these policies are available to read on the school website:
stmatthewsluton.com/curriculum/
Please make time to read both policies so that you are clear with what your child’s journey for reading and phonics looks like.
As a school, we have a new phonics assessment system called Phonics Tracker which smartly checks what each child already knows and identifies gaps in their phonics knowledge. It produces personal worksheets for your child, which you may see coming home, especially if they are working in a Phonics Intervention group in Foundation Stage, Year 1, Year 2 or Year 3.
We have invested in brand new phonics resources for Foundation Stage, Year 1, Year 2 and our EAL team. This is to ensure that all resources and pupil experiences are standardised. Another area in which we have invested is the reading books for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 pupils. We now offer your child a Bug Club Phonics book which is matched to the level of phonics that they are working at. They stay on these books until they have secured Phase 5.
These books have cost us a huge amount of money so please support us by looking after them in your homes. Check your child’s book bag every day and take the time to listen to them every day. Repeat reading of texts is encouraged and so is revisiting books they have read previously. Going home alongside the children’s reading books are brand new Reading Records. These are there for the adults to make a log of any reading that happens in school and at home. Included in the reading diary is a helpful guide, including top tips to make reading engaging, questions to check understanding, phonics and spelling guides that are appropriate to your child’s age. Please use these diaries at home and ensure that this is routinely returned to school in their book bag. For older children they may be able to start writing their own comments, once they have reached a good reading level. Please check with your child’s teacher first.
In school, the children have brand new phonics and spelling books to record work in, these will be used across the school. This way we will be able to capture the children’s progress with phonics and spellings. These books will be staying in school. When spellings are sent home it is vital that you support your child at home to be able to read, understand and spell these words. We can already see a real improvement in your child’s reading and phonics ability and look forward to seeing this improve even further as the academic year progresses.
If you have any questions then please contact the school admin team: admin.stmatthews@smps.uk and reference Mrs N. Kingston who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your ongoing support.