Helping Your Child Learn to Read at St Anne Line Infant School and Nursery

At St Anne Line, we want every child to become a fluent, confident reader who enjoys reading. Reading opens the door to many exciting worlds and helps children become independent, lifelong learners.

We support this through:

• Read Write Inc. (RWI): a phonics-based programme taught in school

• Reading to your child daily: at home and in school

• Access to a variety of books: both in school and at home

What is Read Write Inc. (RWI)?

RWI is a structured reading programme that helps children learn to read quickly and confidently. It focuses on phonics – learning the sounds in words – and also supports spelling, vocabulary and comprehension.

RWI was created by Ruth Miskin. You can find more information through the website link below:

How We Teach RWI

Children are grouped by ability in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and assessed regularly to make sure they are learning at the right level. Here’s what RWI looks like across the school:

Nursery

• Short sessions introducing letter sounds.

Reception

• Learning to read and write sounds as a whole class until October half-term

• Blending sounds to read simple words

• Beginning to read storybooks matched to their level

• 4 x weekly 45-minute lessons after half-term in ability groups

Year 1 and Above

• 4 x weekly 45-minute lessons

• Learning more complex sounds

• Moving to reading comprehensions once reading is fluent

What Children Learn

Reading

• 44 sounds and matching letters or groups of letters

• Blending sounds using Fred Talk (e.g. c-a-t → cat)

• Reading storybooks and non-fiction that match their level

• Building understanding by answering simple questions

Writing

• Forming letters using fun phrases

• Spelling words by sounding them out

• Building sentences by saying them out loud first

Speaking

• Working in pairs to:

  • Take turns reading and speaking

  • Share answers and ideas

  • Use new and ambitious words

Our Approach

RWI is built around five key principles:

1. Purpose – Every lesson has a clear goal.

2. Participation – All children are involved in every activity.

3. Praise – We celebrate effort and progress.

4. Pace – Lessons are fast-moving and focused.

5. Passion – Teachers are enthusiastic and bring lessons to life.

Fred Talk

To help children blend sounds into words, we use a puppet called Fred who “speaks in sounds.” For example:

• m-o-p → mop

• sh-o-p → shop

• b-l-a-ck → black

This technique is called Fred Talk and helps children hear and blend sounds easily.