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15/03/24

More photos! pic.twitter.com/xoWElhGxX5

15/03/24

Year 5 have been busy making Anglo-Saxon settlements this week. It was an enjoyable collaborative learning activity and we’re super proud of our final outcomes! pic.twitter.com/iBJIPqKceR

15/03/24

Year 6 have been preparing healthy meals as part of their DT this term. Delicious bruschetta and fruit meringues enabled the children to practise their chopping skills and sample a range of healthy treats! pic.twitter.com/vQsQda3LOO

14/03/24

As part of their learning about the circulatory system, Year 6 had a visit from Invicta Grammar School today to lead them through a heart dissection. They were amazed to see what they had learnt from diagrams in the - ahem - flesh! pic.twitter.com/O675TESFVs

14/03/24

Willow class have been making their plans for their very own Pudding Lane. We can't wait to see their final creations next week! pic.twitter.com/zPps8zgGUv

14/03/24

We have been exploring mass today. Our use of mathematical language has been mind-blowing! pic.twitter.com/1Jj54c80Qu

12/03/24

If only we could eat our lunch with giraffes and orangutans every day! What a lovely trip to Wingham Wildlife Park. pic.twitter.com/o7YM5nEynw

12/03/24

What a wonderful day! We had a rather wet experience but amazed the people at with our knowledge pic.twitter.com/boLmOQ5HTo

11/03/24

The Eco Council braved the elements to plant 240 trees along the back of the school field! Kindly donated via the - the trees are native trees, designed to encourage wildlife. The children worked so hard and loved every minute! pic.twitter.com/CxtWvtAm39

08/03/24

Well done to our Year 5s for winning the trust's Maths challenge this week! They even beat some of the teachers. pic.twitter.com/H0waGMg0Ui

07/03/24

We have had an amazing World Book Day today. Our characters have come in all shapes and sizes, with many, many authors represented. pic.twitter.com/jGBpkcV6po

07/03/24

Everyone has been involved in World Book Day today. We even saw with a group of children in Key Stage 1 (we think it might have been the Headteacher in disguise!) pic.twitter.com/ZVItPgUyum

07/03/24

Our Year 2 children in Mulberry Class look amazing in their World Book Day costumes! pic.twitter.com/QbkoJx9IAA

06/03/24

A lovely afternoon was had with Elm and Ash Class - we shared some of our favourite books and heard some amazing reading! pic.twitter.com/JbqWP0mXrt

06/03/24

Well done to the children in Elder class for successfully completing their Bike Ability course. pic.twitter.com/nmOlpCYOeX

06/03/24

As part of our World Book Day celebrations, EYFS and Year 6 spent the afternoon sharing their reading. It was a wonderful experience for all the children! pic.twitter.com/lHvdJISgYp

06/03/24

As part of our World Book Day celebrations, EYFS and Year 6 spent the afternoon sharing their reading. It was a wonderful experience for all the children! pic.twitter.com/UnXvwTWjHS

06/03/24

What a beautiful day to do a bit of team building in our P.E. lesson today 👫☀️ pic.twitter.com/g3hqqHO6YY

06/03/24

A huge thanks to Maidstone for ordering our World Book Day books. Every child will get to take home a book this week as part of our celebrations. I wonder which book they will receive? pic.twitter.com/NHMAhTfRqe

06/03/24

So proud of our Year 5 children who, as part of their learning in term 3, raised £163 for . pic.twitter.com/IQYtAJ0e0r

06/03/24

Year 1 are writing poetry this week. The most wonderful language is being used and it's fantastic to hear the children sharing their work. pic.twitter.com/6f8lhj43Pl

06/03/24

Some amazing artwork created by Year 4. They loved exploring how to create different colours using watercolour paints. We look forward to seeing their final pieces which will be based around the artwork of pic.twitter.com/KqzevXsSoy

05/03/24

Thank you so much to Cucina for the care and effort that they put in to presenting our lunches. It makes it a pleasure to have lunch at our school. pic.twitter.com/qaNy0bIbTY

05/03/24

Aylesford. Look what our art specialist Mrs Lovelock has created with the MDF you kindly donated! Special thanks to James. pic.twitter.com/st1oongEnw

01/03/24

Amazing teamwork in Year 2! We have learned how to measure in cm in maths, use a compass in geography and have transferred our skills to produce our own sketch maps of the local area. pic.twitter.com/rm4XBvQtH7

Early Reading - Read Write Inc. (RWI)

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.