At Ark Priory, we want all children to become passionate readers. We map out immersive learning journeys underpinned by high-quality key texts, as detailed in our Reading Spine document. Through nurturing a love for reading, we develop in our pupils a passion for discovery and the confidence to explore their imagination. We are determined for all our pupils to become highly competent readers, academically prepared for learning in primary school and beyond. The Ark Priory curriculum covers purpose-focused genres which align with the National Curriculum. This develops children into fluent and effective readers, speakers and writers, so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others with clarity and conviction.
Phonics
At Ark Priory Primary Academy, we aim for all children to be able read accurately with good comprehension by the end of Year 1. We use the excellent Read, Write, Inc. (RWI) Phonics programme: a daily synthetic phonics and literacy programme for all Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and some Year 2 children within the school.
The programme enables children to:
- recognise the 44 common phonetic sounds and independently blend them to develop their reading, writing and spelling skills
- read accurately and fluently and develop a love of reading
- spell, handwrite and develop their ideas for writing
- articulate their understanding and practise what they have been taught
The programme's fast pace and consistency is a key element of developing reading skills for all children and enables them to access the rest of the school curriculum.
Children also learn to read and spell words that do not conform to regular phonetic patterns (High Frequency Words) and decode both fiction and non-fiction texts through discussion, performance and teacher led activities.
