At Ledbury Primary School, we teach phonics in Nursery, Reception and years 1 and 2 through the Read Write Inc. programme.

This programme is for primary school children learning to read.

It enables every child to become a confident and fluent reader at the first attempt.

What is RWI?

RWI is a phonics programme developed by Ruth Miskin to enable all children to learn to read whilst also developing a wide range of vocabulary and encouraging a love of stories.

Why does it work?

• The systematic and lively programme is organised by an in-school manager
• All staff (teachers and assistants) are trained together
• The children read and write each day, grouped according to their reading level.

How and what do the children learn?

The children:

• learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts
• learn to read words using sound blending 

Accurate articulation of pure sounds is vital.

As soon as the children begin to learn sounds, they start to practice the skills of blending. To maximise their skills and application of their knowledge, children will read both real and ‘alien’ words. Alien words are often also called nonsense words or pseudo words, for example words like 'plimp' or 'thill'. They are a very efficient way to check if a pupil knows the sounds that the letters spell and how to blend those sounds into words beyond those that they might store in their memory bank.

Within our RWI lessons, children read a wide range of lively phonic books that are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words. Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice. Within the teaching sequence children re-read the stories to develop their accuracy, fluency, confidence and intonation.

To continue their learning, children will bring home a stage book that is carefully matched to their RWI stage, and the sounds and key words they have been practicing at school. It contains information and supportive notes for you to use with your child.

Please feel free to contact your class teacher if you would like further information on Read Write Inc.