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11/07/25

Today we were able to celebrate the achievements of some of our Year 5 children who have finished their Young Adventurers programme We are very proud their success. Well done! pic.twitter.com/DlBymL0VGD

11/07/25

Elm Class have one very proud teacher! 🎨 We are such wonderful little artists and feel amazed by what we can create. We've finally finished our collages — and what masterpieces they are! 🌟🖼️ pic.twitter.com/jwNYmp3vRL

11/07/25

🌟 Elm Class have finished the second part of their collage project — adding beautiful watercolour skies! 🎨☁️ Amazing creativity on display! pic.twitter.com/1EAdemWZZ1

09/07/25

Floodland inspired art from Beech class for art week. pic.twitter.com/uu5Nody5bQ

09/07/25

Floodland inspired Art from Ash class for art week! pic.twitter.com/t0gk8cwrSX

08/07/25

🎨 Elm Class are loving Art Week! We're exploring a new skill each day, building up to a final masterpiece at the end of the week. Creativity is in full swing! 🖌️✨ pic.twitter.com/9cAplqqRwE

08/07/25

Pine Class enjoyed painting their volcanoes with acrylic paint today. There were some fantastic mixing skills being used to create the colours needed. pic.twitter.com/8J6cqwnHdn

08/07/25

Year 6 had great fun using their knowledge of electrical circuits, insulators and conductors to make a steady hand game. pic.twitter.com/gm7uTaQCp9

07/07/25

VIPS Aylesford hosted Young Carers from today for an afternoon of fun in the sun. We all made new friends and met others who are going to the same secondary school. pic.twitter.com/hNZBWPmQln

04/07/25

Elder class have been busy working on their art final outcomes inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe. They have enjoyed following the video tutorial and creating their own sketches using different techniques. pic.twitter.com/tt99JUlDAs

03/07/25

Elm Class had a fantastic time exploring capacity in today’s maths lesson! We used water play to practise comparing amounts using the words ‘more’ and ‘less’ 💧 pic.twitter.com/qHyxbk294D

02/07/25

Thank you to for letting us have a travelling book shop this week. We have loved choosing new reading for pleasure books. Thank you to all parents and carers for supporting us. pic.twitter.com/rNZ4CH0Lo0

01/07/25

Thank you to all parents who attended the Year 3 parent showcase yesterday afternoon. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploding their volcanoes and showing you their learning! pic.twitter.com/LgDIsd6giR

01/07/25

We were so lucky to be invited to for an amazing art experience! 🎨 The children created incredible paper art and can’t wait to use their new skills during Art Week! 🖌️✨ pic.twitter.com/cW4YxZblqr

30/06/25

Year 5 took part in their Young Adventurers water sports day and night sleeping under canvas. The weather was very kind and whilst there was not much sleep involved - they had a wonderful time. pic.twitter.com/UChCWtctvj

30/06/25

Year 6 were treated to a trip to see Starlight Express on Thursday. They had the best time and loved the music and the staging. Thank you to the PTA for funding this. pic.twitter.com/clCVCB1fqf

27/06/25

Ash class have been working on 3D modelling in computing. Here are our finished 3D models. pic.twitter.com/CV9mZgyogp

27/06/25

A huge congratulations to Sofia in Year 6. She achieved second place in the South East Regional Intermediate Gymnastics competition last weekend. Well done Sofia! pic.twitter.com/gmv8iHly4r

27/06/25

Willow class wrote letters to their future selves today, setting out their goals and ambitions for their year 2 selves! pic.twitter.com/QNAnRbeAQL

27/06/25

Poppy has worked hard at gymnastics this week to earn her medal in floor shapes. Well done Poppy! 🥇 pic.twitter.com/2rVZy1Ph4X

25/06/25

Team building activity for Ash class in their transition afternoon! Also, a game to see how well Miss O’Dwyer knows them after this year before starting the next! pic.twitter.com/Ci0UnWCoM7

23/06/25

Ash class spent some time reading for pleasure this afternoon! pic.twitter.com/UB9kU1K6J8

20/06/25

Elder class have been busy this morning starting their art work on Georgia O'Keeffe by creating inspirational mood boards. pic.twitter.com/5Fnfye8sPS

20/06/25

Beech class also had a great lesson with Dr Crouch! pic.twitter.com/1VtKlztw34

20/06/25

Ash class had a great time learning all about different reactions with Dr Crouch from pic.twitter.com/3mBVaOzy1D

Early Reading - Read Write Inc. (RWI)

RWI School 2024 Stamp

Phonics - Read Write Inc. (RWI)

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford, we use Read Write Inc. (RWI), an inclusive synthetic phonic programme to teach our children to read, to write and to spell. We have adopted this as our whole school approach as the programme facilitates a graduated and tailored approach to learning basic sounds and letter formation before advancing to more complex sounds and reading for comprehension.  The programme moves with integrity from learning to read to reading to learn.

RWI sessions occur each day as the continuity and pace of the programme is key to accelerating the progress of children’s reading development. This method of phonics teaching is both systematic and repetitive in order to embed learning; the programme also offers plenty of opportunities for fun based, interactive learning using drama, role play and props to engage with and to enjoy texts and stories. The children work in small groups according to their confidence and competence. These groups are reconfigured on a regular basis in order to match the pace and the progress of each child; this reconfiguration also allows Class Teachers to identify where 1:1 interventions may be required in order to meet the expectations of both the Phonics Check and the end of Key Stage 1.

Aims and Objectives

The overarching objectives of the RWI programme are to teach pupils to:

  • apply the skill of blending phonemes in order to read words.
  • segment words into their constituent phonemes in order to spell words.
  • learn that blending and segmenting words are reversible processes.
  • read high frequency words that do not conform to regular phonic patterns.
  • read texts and words that are within their phonic capabilities as early as possible.
  • decode texts effortlessly so that their focus can be used on reading to learn (comprehension)
  • spell effortlessly so that their focus can be directed towards the composition of their writing

Read Write Inc. Phonics 

Children who read regularly or are read to regularly have the opportunity to open the doors to so many different worlds! More importantly, reading will give your child the tools to become independent life-long learners.

We can achieve this together through:

  • Read Write Inc. Phonics, a program to help to your child read at school.
  • Encouraging children to develop a love of books by reading to them daily, at home and at school.
  • Giving children access to a wide range of books at school and at home.

At Valley Invicta Primary School at Aylesford we use Read Write Inc. Phonics (RWI) to give your child the best possible start with their literacy.  Mrs Kindred is our Early Reading Lead and Mrs Marchant is our Reading Champion, so if you have questions about RWI, please contact them. Please take the time to read the information as it will provide invaluable information as to how you can help and support your child in reading.

Read Write Inc - a  video guide for parents

​What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics complete literacy programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. The programme is designed for children aged 4-7. However, we will continue teaching RWI to children beyond the age of 7 if they still need support in their reading.

RWI was developed by Ruth Miskin and more information on this can be found at https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

How will RWI be taught?

In Reception, children will be introduced to the initial sounds in short sessions, all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down.

Reading

The children:

  • learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letters/letter groups using simple picture prompts – see below
  • learn to read words using Fred talk and sound blending
  • read from a range of storybooks and non-fictions books matched to their phonic knowledge
  • work well with partners
  • develop comprehension skills in stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It' discussion questions

Writing

The children:

  • learn to write and form the letters/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds with the help of fun phrases
  • learn to write words by using Fred Talk*
  • learn to build sentences by practising sentences out loud before they write

RWI Sound Powerpoints

Talking

The children work in pairs so that they:

  • answer every question
  • practise every activity with their partner
  • take turns in talking and reading to each other
  • develop ambitious vocabulary

Year 1 and Year 2 children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Daily sessions of RWI phonics last for one hour. 

Five key principles underpin the teaching in all Read Write Inc. sessions

Purpose – know the purpose of every activity and share it with the children, so they know the one thing they should be thinking about

Participation – ensure every child participates throughout the lesson. Partnership work is fundamental to learning

Praise – ensure children are praised for effort and learning, not ability

Pace – teach at an effective pace and devote every moment to teaching and learning

Passion – be passionate about teaching so children can be engaged emotionally.

Key Skills

We use pure sounds (‘m’ not’ muh’,’s’ not ‘suh’, etc.) so that your child will be able to blend the sounds into words more easily.

Fred

*At school we use a puppet called Fred who is an expert on sounding out words! We call it, ‘Fred Talk’. E.g. m-o-p, c-a-t, m-a-n, sh-o-p, b-l-a-ck.

The following video is an example of blending sounds with Fred 

Blending with Fred 

Key Skills - Step 1

Set 1 Sounds are taught in the following order together with rhymes to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending.  

Set 1

Click here for the top ten tips and help with how to pronounce sounds correctly.

Children will also use pictures for each sound to help recognise the sound and then form the shape of the sound.

Set 1 pic

Key Skills - Step 2

The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds - the long vowels. When they are very confident with all of set 1 and 2 they are taught Set 3 Sounds.

Set 2

Nonsense Words (Alien Words)

Nonsense words

As well as learning to read and blend real words children will have plenty of opportunities to apply their sound recognition skills on reading ‘Nonsense words’. These words will also feature heavily in the Year One Phonics Screening check in the summer term.

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check will take place in June.

This check simply identifies the children who need extra help so they are given support by their school to improve their reading skills. They will then be able to retake the check so that schools can track pupils until they are able to decode.

Key Skills - Step 3

Children use sound-blending (Fred Talk) to read short books will bring these home once they have read and discussed the book in class. Children will then be challenged to use their developing phonic knowledge to write short sentences.

Within all the books children will have red and green words to learn to help them to become speedy readers. Red words are words that are not easily decodable and challenge words to extend children’s vocabulary. Green words are linked to the sounds they have been learning and are easily decodable.

Step 3 Dots and dashes represent the sound each letter makes.

What is the Phonics Screening Check?

The national Phonics Screening Check was introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils. It is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in the phonics skills to read words and are on track to become fluent readers who can enjoy reading for pleasure and for learning.

Useful websites for parents

Your child will start to bring books home when they are confident readers. Please help them to read and give lots of praise! If you have any other questions about RWI, please see your child's class teacher.

Please find a list of websites that you may find useful in helping you and your child to learn about phonics. Games and fun activity websites are also included.

Jolly Learning

Phonics Play

BBC Bitesize

ICT Games

Starfall

How to blend

For further information please visit the Read Write Inc website.