Reading and Phonics
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Dr Seuss
Early Reading and Phonics
Our Philosophy
At Morton, we believe that reading is the foundation for all learning and one of the most important skills a child can develop. We strive to create confident, fluent readers who not only have the skills to understand what they read, but who also develop a lifelong love of books and reading.
Reading opens doors to new knowledge, broadens vocabulary, develops imagination and enables children to become successful learners across the curriculum. We believe every child can become a reader and we are committed to providing high-quality teaching, targeted support and rich reading experiences to ensure every child achieves success.
Our Approach
We teach early reading through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. Daily phonics teaching begins as soon as children start Reception and continues throughout Year 1 and Year 2. Any child who needs additional support beyond this receives carefully planned intervention to help them keep up with their peers.
Our aim is for every child to become an accurate, fluent and confident reader by developing secure phonic knowledge alongside a love of books.
Children are taught to:
- recognise and say the sounds represented by letters and groups of letters
- blend sounds to read unfamiliar words
- segment words for spelling
- read common exception words
- develop fluency so that reading becomes automatic
Phonics is applied throughout the school day in reading, writing and across the wider curriculum, enabling children to use and consolidate their knowledge in meaningful contexts.
Reading Practice Sessions
Alongside daily phonics lessons, children take part in three Reading Practice sessions each week using books that are carefully matched to the sounds they have been taught. These sessions focus on three key elements:
- decoding
- prosody (reading with expression and fluency)
- comprehension
Children take home:
- their fully decodable reading practice book to re-read and build confidence and fluency
- a reading-for-pleasure book - chosen to share and enjoy with their family
Keeping Up
We are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a successful reader. Children who need additional support receive Little Wandle Rapid Catch-up - a structured intervention programme that quickly identifies and addresses gaps in phonic knowledge. This targeted support enables children to develop the confidence and skills needed to become fluent, independent readers.
Whole Class Reading in KS2
From Year 3 onwards, children participate in daily whole-class reading lessons designed to develop fluent, thoughtful and enthusiastic readers.
Lessons are built around carefully selected, high-quality texts including novels, picture books, poetry and non-fiction. Texts are chosen to expose children to rich language, diverse authors and important themes, whilst making meaningful links across the wider curriculum where appropriate.
Reading lessons develop children's ability to:
- understand ambitious vocabulary in context
- read accurately, fluently and with expression
- use a range of reading strategies to make meaning
- retrieve information from a text
- infer characters' thoughts, feelings and motives
- explain and justify opinions using evidence from the text
- explore the author's language, structure and purpose
Through discussion and questioning, children are encouraged to think deeply about what they read and develop the confidence to articulate and justify their ideas.
Brilliant Books
To develop a love of reading, we have created a list of 100 Brilliant Books for each group. These have been carefully chosen to include a variety of books including fiction, non fiction, poetry, picture books and graphic novels. There is something for everyone! Children can select books from this list to read and take home.