Reading

We follow a systematic and progressive approach to teaching early reading skills.

For pupils on the Stepping out pathway, we help them develop the essential skills they need before they can start reading. These include visual, auditory and motor skills; attention and focus skills; communication skills; and memory and sequencing skills. We use high quality books and poetry, along with concrete experiences, to support their learning.

For pupils Pacers Emerging, we lay the foundations for reading by focusing on language comprehension and word recognition skills. This means we help them build their vocabulary, understand language conventions and background knowledge, and develop phonological awareness. We do this by sharing high-quality stories and poems and activities that improve their listening and attention skills. Pupils on this pathway are still tolerating demand and working on the engagement model, but may begin to engage in short phonic sessions.

For pupils on Pacers Developing and Strides Pathway, who have mastered the pre-reading and foundations for reading skills, we help them become effective early readers. We encourage them to love reading by exposing them to a wide range of texts and genres, and we continue to focus on developing language comprehension skills along with more formal decoding and automatic word recognition skills. For most of these pupils, we use the 'Read Write Inc' systematic synthetic phonics programme to ensure they learn the alphabetic code and use phonics to read and spell as they progress through school. Pupils are assessed and grouped according to their ability, and they work with a teacher and teaching assistants in small groups. Alongside our phonics programme, we use carefully matched decodable reading books to help children apply their phonics knowledge and enjoy reading high quality texts later on.

More information about Read Write Inc can be found here.

After finishing the Read, Write, Inc programme, pupils will start the national curriculum programme of study that is tailored to their individual needs.

Depending on their pathway, in KS4 and Post 16 pupils have the opportunity to study a range of accreditations or qualifications in English or an ASDAN accreditation. These options are designed to help them develop their literacy skills and prepare them for further education, employment or independent living. The accreditations and qualifications vary in level, content and assessment methods, but they all aim to foster a love of reading, writing and communication among the pupils.