Reading & Phonics

Our names are Mr Fisher and Mrs Cromwell and together we lead Reading and Phonics across the school. Along with all our staff, we are absolutely passionate about reading! 

St Leonard’s is a reading school and as such books sit at the heart of all we do. Reading is the gateway to independent learning and we passionately believe that our curriculum should open children's minds, develop a sense of wonder about the world around them, engage their natural curiosity and inspire them to be life-long learners.

The explicit teaching of reading is integral to a child’s understanding and appreciation of the world around them; a platform that allows our children to see beyond what they know, share in cultural and diverse experiences and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves. Our bespoke framework and methodology that has been developed by us for the unique context of our learning community allows us to plan, teach and assess each child so as to meet and challenge each individual need.

Our carefully structured and progressive curriculum is delivered through synthetic phonics, guided and whole class reading, home reading, reading across the curriculum, regular opportunities for independent reading and hearing carefully chosen quality texts read aloud every day. All of these are essential components to develop fluent, enthusiastic, critical readers who comprehend and interpret what they read. We will act quickly to identify and support children who are dropping behind and ensure we close gaps in learning. Our ambitious reading progression map is designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs, the cultural capital they need to succeed in life. We aspire to develop a love of reading for both pleasure and information, opening up future opportunities for life in the 21st century. 

Phonics 

At St Leonard's we follow the 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised' program to deliver our teaching of phonics and early reading. We work hard to ensure we follow the program with fidelity: we regularly review our own practice, we use a model of peer coaching to observe and share strategies for success, and we engage with our local English Hub to ensure we stay up to date with the latest pedagogy.  

Across the school we also successfully implement the ‘Keep Up’ and ‘Catch Up’ interventions to help children stay on track or to give them the boost they need to catch up with their peers. 

Regular meetings are held throughout the year to help parents understand how to best support their child’s reading. More information about this scheme of learning (including videos for parents) can be found at: 

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/ 

The Joy of Reading

To help embed our love of books and reading even deeper, we have forged a link with the wonderful independent, not-for-profit community bookshop 'The Bookery', whose patrons include Michael Morpurgo and Phillip Reeve. 

https://thebookery.org.uk/

The wonderful team of volunteers at the Bookery (many of whom are retired teachers!), curate a collection of the very finest new releases of children's books each year, which we buy to keep our libraries up to date.

We also take groups of children to The Bookery, to help choose new books for school and to meet incredible authors like Tom McLaughlin. 

Why not pop along to The Bookery yourself, mention St Leonard's and get a personalised recommendation for a new book?