At Mountfield Primary School we teach the basic skills of reading and writing through the hugely successful programme, Read Write Inc. This programme was devised by former head teacher, Ruth Miskin, who has gone on to work as a government advisor for the teaching of phonics.

The rationale at the core of Read Write Inc, is the structured and lively teaching of synthetic phonics. Children learn the 44 common sounds in the English language and then progress to sound-blend words for reading at the same time as developing handwriting skills and spelling. The most important aspect of the programme is the fact that reading books have been devised to match each stage of progression, containing words children can decode, so they achieve early success in reading. The more sounds they know, the greater the range of texts they can read. As the children move through the programme, they are also taught to comprehend and to compose – out loud. The quicker their decoding the more they comprehend; and the quicker their encoding the more they write of what they have composed out loud. Children can then begin to develop a way of thinking necessary for all school learning – through discursive thought; the ability to hold and develop a complex network of ideas and arguments.