Early Reading at St. Raphael's School

Reading is fundamental to education and vital to pupils' success. At St. Raphael's, we are committed to raising the standards of literacy for all, and understand that children becoming fluent and engaged readers from the earliest age will have the greatest impact on their future academic achievement, well-being and success in life. 

We have made a document that encompasses much of what we do here at St. Raphael's - please take a look below. 

Phonics at St. Raphael's School

At St. Raphael's, we use the Read Write Inc. approach to teach Phonics. 

Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Help for Parents

We have also put some very handy videos to help you teach phonics at home in our 'Video Resource Centre'. Go to the 'Children' tab, then select 'Video Resource Centre' and see the videos under 'Phonics - Reception'.

Early Years

The Reading Bears

During the first term all children are introduced to the ‘Reading Bears’. Each bear represents a question type (who, what, where, when, why, what if, how). Each week all questions during the Storytime will focus on a Reading Bear. Once practitioners feel that the children are secure with using the Reading Bears they will be used together. The Reading Bears are visible throughout the environment and are also used by parents at home and are referred to in the children’s reading records. An exemplar of the expected responses from parents are stuck into the reading records weekly, an refer to the question bears.