Reading and Phonics

Pupils are encouraged to develop a love of reading and sharing books throughout all curriculum pathways. Each class at Peak School has designated reading and story times. Pupils are highly motivated by our multi- sensory stories, interactive whiteboard stories and story sacks which are used alongside books. This supports pupils to actively engage with exciting and engaging books whilst exploring a range of genre and authors whilst develop key skills in communication, language and reading.

Phonics

Phonics is central to our approach to teaching reading. The Hills Pathway allows pupils to develop pre phonic skills, responding to and having fun with all kinds of noises and sounds in the environment while Peaks Pathway pre-phonics curriculum uses immersive phonics to explore pure phonic sounds in a fun and multisensory way before commencing learning phonics formally in the Mountains Pathway.

Pupils learn phonics through a structured synthetic phonics programme, Jolly Phonics. This approach links actions to phonemes and graphemes as well as songs and stories ensuring the pupils learning is fun and engaging. Pupils have opportunities to revisit, consolidate and apply their phonics learning regularly. Pupils read decodable books which are carefully matched to their phonics ability.

School Library

We have developed our school library area to be in inviting space where children can relax and develop a love reading and explore books for pleasure. There are a wide range of books for pupils to browse and choose books for themselves. Pupils are supported by adults to locate books of interest and explore the pictures and text.