school changing to Read , Write , inc reading scheme

[kilmuir]

we are going to get more details, just wondered what peoples thoughts, experiences of it are?

For all, or just for kids with an EIP?

For all

Our school changed last year! I think it's amazing, ds has really taken to it and it's brought dd (who was in yr 2 when they brought it in) on in leaps and bounds compared to the normal phonics.

yes my DD is in year2. what do you like about it

It's usually whole school initiative. For KS1 I think it's great, but I have reservations about able KS2 children. There are some very good elements to it, and it does what it says on the tin - it teaches phonics, letter formation and basic writing skills, but I personally think if that is the only literacy they do, it becomes a bit restricted as time goes on. To move on to the next level children must be assessed, but I've seen children stay on a level for 2-3 cycles, and then they definitely become bored. Having said that, if it's used as a springboard, children move onto literacy strategy with all the skills they need.

Tbh I can't really say what it is I like, but it seems to just click in their heads a lot easier iykwim. A friend who's dd has dyslexia has progressed more in the last year than the previous 2, through read write inc.

My girls seem happy with it, they were reception and yr2 when it was introduced. I think some parents were a bit concerned as children were split by ability rather than year group, but it has suited dd1 (was struggling a bit but much more confident in reading and writing). Dd2 has taken to it well, but I think she would learn however you taught her.

It doesn't seem to bother them that they were mixed up, although dd1 is mainly with her year group and dd2 is ahead of most of her year group. Unless there are problems they move on from it at some point in yr3: they still do guided reading, writing etc. I think it helped dd1 with writing particularly and it doesn't seem to have confused her moving from the random phonics they had before.

Our school introduced it last year, for all children who were not yet at level 2. So effectively, that was almost all the infants and a fair number of yr3 and yr4s.

Attainment in literacy has skyrocketed. The main advantage in our context seemed to be that the children were in small classes, which were very strictly grouped by ability. That did mean that there was a wide age range in some classes - my 6yo was in a class with an age range from 5 to 8. I had my doubts about that, but the children really seemed to respond to being with people who were at exactly the same stage as them and didn't seem to mind being mixed up by age.

And the scheme is fun!

Oh and it is fairly structured and not too much time. Dd2 has a fairly low tollerance for disruptive behaviour (except her own of course) and I have never heard of her saying that anyone was misbehaving. I guess I did have some initial misgivings about how she might find it with some of the disruptive influences from the years above.

They also seem to drill them every session with the phonics already learnt, so they are constantly revising, and they do go over the same letters again, so it doesn't matter if you missed 'g' day as it will come around again, probably mixed in with a few other sounds. Dd2 is less tollerant of the repeatative nature of the programme.

Also although it might seem odd at first mixing up the year groups, a sept yr1 may have more developmentally in common with a July yr2 than a june yr1 child, the year divisions are arbitary whereas in this scheme they are assessed for the best level for them.

My DS2's primary changed to Read, Write Inc a year ago, when he started Y3.

He has development delay and other SN's, and was reading at a level FAR behind his peer group. He was taken out in a small group for catch up lessons, and it has made the WORLD of difference to his reading abilities, his spelling AND his comprehension skills.

I was sceptical at first, but am a bit of a convert now.

12 months ago, he was struggling with ORT 5 books. Now he is happily reading Beast Quest, Roald Dahl, and some Michael Morpurgo.

I actually can't think of anything negative to say about Read, Write Inc when compared to the school's previous (useless) phonics system.

DS2 is in Y4 now, still doing some Read, Write Inc. he has had work sent home this week as he is off ill, and his current book is Get Spelling Book 1.

(He has done Book 1 once last year, but due to a slip over the holidays is redoing it.)

Our school implements all the reading part but only the writing part up until about middle of y2; I've heard that's what's wrong with RWI, too prescriptive & not creative enough writing.

DS-yr4 on RWI since reception start, I feel he learnt to read much faster than he would have on previous scheme.

They seem to be doing RWI more loosely now with my reception-DS, not quite as full-on immersion in one letter a day. He's picking it up more slowly, anyway.

My DD's former school changed a couple of years ago and although she only did 6 weeks of it as that's all she needed to come off it, it was very successful for the school and they are still using it.