Here at Warren Primary School, we follow the Read, Write, Inc. phonics programme (RWI)

Read, Write, Inc. phonics is taught right through from our school nursery to Year 2. Children are taught the 40+ phonemes and graphemes needed to decode words and begin to read fluently. They learn ‘green words’ in which they can break a word up into sounds (decode) before putting the sounds back together again in order to read the whole word (blending). Children are also taught ‘red words’. These are a list of words that are exceptions to phonetic rules. They cannot be broken up into sounds and simply have to be learnt as an entire word.

All of the sounds that the children will learn can be found in the pdf below. They are split into 2 sets.

Please click here to visit the official Read, Write, Inc. phonics website which has more information and useful resources for both you and your child/children.

When helping your child with their phonics at home, it is essential that children are using what is known as ‘pure sounds’. This means the sound is being said correctly and does not contain any additional sounds. An example of this is correctly saying mmmmmm for the sound m and not meh. The following video is an excellent example of producing ‘pure sounds’.

Additionally, children continue their RWI experience through RWI Book Bag Books that are brought home weekly from school. These books match their assessed phonics level and include the sounds that they currently have knowledge of. Book Bag Bags include a wide selection of fully decodable reading books for children to take home, to further support their Read Write Inc. Phonics learning in the classroom. All Book Bag Books include notes for parents and carers on how to help their child at home with phonics.

Please watch the video below for a brief introduction into RWI Book Bag Books.

RWI is also used to help children with their letter formation. The rhymes the children are taught helps them to remember the sound the letter makes but also helps them to write the letter correctly. These can be found in the PDF below.

The following video gives a lovely example of RWI in practice and the progress that it enables children to make with their reading.