Reading & Phonics Schemes

At Downton Primary School our vision for reading and writing is underpinned by our three curriculum drivers; aspirations, knowledge and personal development.

We encourage a passion for reading through regular opportunities in class to share and discuss high quality texts, as well as reading for pleasure.

As a staff team we have identified key texts which every child should experience on their journey through Downton. Click here to see Downton’s Curriculum Reading Spine. We encourage our children to read widely as this broadens horizons, develops imagination and provides a construct to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world.

We have a lunch time story stop club where children can come to listen to stories and take part in immersive activities using puppets and costumes. We also celebrate reading throughout the year through author visits and book themed days.

Reading for pleasure:

We are fortunate to have a reading shed full of wonderful books for our children to enjoy at lunchtimes and breaktimes. Our Early Years and Key Stage One classes visit our library weekly to borrow picture books and our Key Stage Two children visit termly.

Our carefully selected 100 top pick reads are launched each year with the children receiving a bookmark of the books chosen for their year group. These books are available in our library and the local library in Downton. Once the children have completed their bookmark, they receive a sparkly star badge for their year group.

Click below to see our Downton top picks for each year group:

Early Years

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Developing life long readers:

We encourage our children to develop a love of reading through sharing books with adults at least five times a week. Children who have read frequently throughout the week or have shown great improvement in their efforts have the opportunity to be awarded Reader of the Week.

Each term a name is drawn from the Reader of the Week raffle and one child from each class is awarded Reader of the Term. The Reader of the Term is invited to join a special trip to the Rocketship Bookshop in Salisbury to choose a book of their choice and to listen to a story. After, they get to go to Boston Tea Party for a hot chocolate.

At Downton Primary school we feel the ability to communicate effectively underpins our curriculum and provides key skills which enable Downton children to fulfil their dreams.

Across all subjects, we provide a forum for children to develop the skills necessary to communicate their thoughts, ideas, decisions and feelings successfully.

We aim develop children's use of wide and purposeful vocabulary, which provides them with the tools to express themselves both verbally and through their writing.

We strongly believe that in order to write successfully children must first have something to write about. With this in mind our teachers plan a wide variety of rich experiences, visits and trips that not only enhance our children’s knowledge but also inspire their writing.

Useful websites and apps to support learning:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home (A free site to access over 250 ebooks)

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/parents/ (A site with helpful tips on learning to read/write)

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm (Access to games to support phonics)

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zhrrd2p (Information about spelling and grammar rules)

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/ (You will need to sign up but the computer version is free)

Phonics

At Downton C of E Primary school we follow the Collins Song of Sounds phonics scheme. It is a fun, multi-sensory approach to phonics which incorporates pictures, songs and actions to help support children with the acquisition of sounds. In September 2024, we will be moving to the Oxford Owl scheme Read Write Inc phonics scheme.

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Click here for a copy of the PowerPoint used for our Year 2 Phonics check Parent meeting

 

Spelling

From Year 2 to Year 6 our children follow Read, Write, Inc. Spelling a comprehensive, daily spelling scheme which develops children’s knowledge of word families, suffixes and prefixes as well as providing mnemonics to help remember tricky spellings and rules.

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Reading

We use a range of schemes including: