Reading and Phonics

Phonetic knowledge is fundamental to reading and writing and so at Sapperton we have invested heavily in developing a rigorous teaching and learning programme that ensures all children quickly develop the skills they need to read and write. We use Floppy's Phonics, produced by Oxford University Press, as our main resource, ensuring that books are carefully matched to the knowledge of the child. Resources are consistently used across the school to ensure that there is a smooth transition as children move through the year groups. 

Phonics overview - highlighting the order in which graphemes are taught. 

Book Bands

All our book are carefully banded to help children choose appropriate books for their phonic knowledge and reading ability. The chart below shows the colour band, phonics phase and approximate year group.  

Reading scheme:
In the Early Years and Key Stage 1 we use Oxford Reading Tree as a main resource, supplemented by other books to give breadth and balance of both fiction and non-fiction. These are organised in stages and the children progress through them individually as their reading improves.

When ready, children move on to individual 'free' reading books which are grouped by difficulty of content and vocabulary. We use 'Accelerated Reader', an online reading assessment program. This helps us to group children for guided reading where they are introduced to more challenging books and new authors. Our children read to an advanced level, so care is taken to ensure the books are appropriate for age and maturity.