On day one, the Ford Reception children will bring home a ‘Share and Enjoy’ book to share at home. This is an opportunity to develop and nurture your child’s love for reading. There is a selection of both fiction and non-fiction books available. As these books will not link directly to the sounds that your child has learnt in their Phonics sessions, Parents/Carers are encouraged to model using expression and fluency when reading to their child. Parents/Carers can also develop their child’s comprehension skills by asking them questions relating to what you have read to them and encouraging them to predict by asking ‘what will happen next?’. Children will be able to change this book as little or often as they desire. The more they read and have read to them, the faster progress they will make! 

At Ford, we use RWI's systematic synthetic programme to deliver phonics and support early reading. RWI is a finely levelled, phonically based online reading scheme with interactive activities. The unique learning platform combines printed books with interactive e-books.

RWI is a firm foundation for phonics. Combining 100% decodable books with whole‑class teaching software, the programme has been researched and developed to deliver fast results.

• Meets 100% of the DFE criteria for teaching systematic synthetic phonics and helps children succeed in the Phonics Screening Check.
• 180 fiction and non‑fiction books, with beautiful artwork, humour and characters that children will love, and books and topics they really want to read.
• Every phonics book is available as an allocatable tablet-friendly e-book that can be accessed from home and includes audio narration to help with pronunciation.
• Each lesson begins with a short animation which allows children to hear the sound pronounced correctly and see how each letter is formed, providing the perfect introduction to each phoneme.

In the first week of Reception, children will explore Phase One activities which concentrate on developing children’s speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending and segmenting. These activities are intended to be used as part of a broad and rich language curriculum that has speaking and listening at its centre, linking language with physical and practical experiences, and providing an environment rich in print and abundant in opportunities to engage with books. Phase One activities pave the way for children to make a good start in reading and writing. Children will also be introduced to our RWI programme by learning the RWI routines for learning and being exposed to the RWI resources through both adult led and child-initiated activities. In week 2, they will begin learning Set 1 Sounds, (m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, r, j, v, w, z, x, qu, sh, ch, th, ng, nk) and also practise their oral blending skills. They will learn one new sound every day until they know at least 16 sounds. Once the first 5 sounds have been taught, children will take home the corresponding RWI flashcards and QR codes linked to the sounds taught that week, for extra practise at home! 

Our first RWI Phonics Workshop for Parents will take place on 1st October 2024 at 8am and 3:30pm. Please see a link to the PowerPoint shared below:

Coming soon!