Reading & Phonics at Luccombe
Intent
Being able to read is an essential life skill and we are determined that every young person that attends Luccombe will learn to read and make significant progress. Many of our learners join Luccombe with low confidence in their abilities as readers. At the heart of our strategy is our drive to foster a love of reading and confidence in our learners for them to succeed, to develop their learning across the wider curriculum and build skills and knowledge ready for life and work.
Reading is integral to a young person’s understanding and appreciation of the world. It supports the young person to share in cultural experiences and develop vocabulary to effectively express themselves.
How do we achieve this?
• Literary Curriculum – is a book-based approach to teaching literacy, suited to Luccombe’s learner led ethos. This approach suits Luccombe’s learner led approach, focusing on the interests, skills, and abilities of the learners. Learners encounter a wide range of significant authors and a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The learners are offered a choice of texts, guided by the teacher/facilitator.
• Focused sessions – Sessions are primarily conducted on a one-to-one basis due to the gaps in knowledge and prior attainment. This allows accurate assessment, personalised targeted support, and engagement of completion of set tasks. The facilitators ensure that the learners practise, repeat and can retrieve skills and knowledge before moving on.
• Reading for Pleasure – Each learner is encouraged to select a book of their choosing from the books at the Centre or home to read independently or share with a facilitator. Alternatively, a learner may prefer to read the range of magazines and newspapers available at Luccombe. The aim is to get the learners reading.
• Providing opportunities for reading, writing, speaking and listening in every subject, , for example, reading recipes, signs, instructions, and in project research.
• Reading independently and hearing quality texts read aloud takes place during English/phonics sessions and during Reading and Reflection time at the end of each day. There are many other opportunities throughout the day – between sessions, during therapeutic sessions, on arrival in the morning, lunch break or as part of a calming strategy.
• Reading at home – Learners are encouraged to read at home regularly to increase their reading stamina and enjoyment of reading.
• Environment – Luccombe prides itself on providing a vibrant, non-threatening and welcoming environment. Our Reading area ‘Narnia’ is a welcoming space for young people – with a variety of reading material – fiction and non-fiction books, magazines, and newspapers. Throughout the learning areas at Luccombe there are reading materials, key words and up to date displays encouraging learners to read and get involved in topics on a range of subjects.
• Read Write Inc. Fresh Start is a catch-up OFSTED validated systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme, for learners who fall behind their peers in Upper KS2 and in secondary school. It is used with learners at Luccombe that benefit from a consistent and progressive approach. It provides systematic and rigorous practice in phonics and meets National Curriculum requirements. The learners reading and phonic skills are assessed during their 6-week initial assessment and once identified as needing support, receive a minimum of 3 1:1 sessions weekly with a teacher or Facilitator trained in Fresh Start.
• Staff Training – Our staff team includes qualified Primary and Secondary Teachers, specialising in core subjects. All Luccombe staff undertake training in Fresh start Phonics and individual phonics targets are shared with all staff which allows the learners to be supported in their reading across all curriculum areas and environments.
