English and Communication underpins everything we teach at The Castle School with daily English lessons taught to focus on specific aspects of Reading, Writing and Spoken Language.

In addition to the daily learning that takes place in the classroom, we provide additional extra support to help individual pupils excel.

We have four Reading Intervention Specialist Staff who run three different types of Reading Interventions. The Fischer Family Trust is designed for developing very early phonic and reading skills. It is linked to writing and therefore made up of Reading and Writing days. It is a 1:1 Intervention delivered 3 times per week. From this programme, the developing reader is moved on to The Catch Up Reading Programme.

The Catch Up Reading Programme is used across the school, from Primary to Post 16, to develop existing Reading and Comprehension skills. It is a 1:1 intervention delivered 3 times per week. It uses a book-based approach to support learners in their reading of a book so they can access both processes of reading (word recognition and language comprehension). It has a strong focus on using phonics to recognise and decode unknown words.

For those students who find phonics challenging, we run the Ginn Programme. Ginn words are high frequency words that are learnt by sight. It is a 1:1 intervention delivered every day. Alongside the words, pupils use reading books containing now-familiar words. It is an ongoing, progressive programme with pupils being given a new word to learn when the reading of their current words has been achieved.

To continue to support and develop reading skills, we have built up a varied, age appropriate reading library full of books that the students enjoy reading. To further develop a love of reading, we offer home reading and run holiday reading competitions using our Active Learn e books.

There are websites that teachers regularly use in school with their pupils. These websites can be accessed at home with your child to continue the learning process.

Education City
Oxford Owl Phonics Made Easy