Helping with reading, when you child first starts school

Our goal for children is that they are allowed to develop at their own pace, through a structured and systematic approach.  Learning is not a race and all children are different.   Pushing children into learning that they are not developmentally ready for is damaging.

When children start school we will work with them developmentally and set goals with them that will assist this growth.  Children may not start reading for six months, or even a year.  This is perfectly normal.  Children progress at different rates and research shows that by the end of year 4, progress of those that struggled initially is usually on a par with those that started reading earlier.

We teach reading using the code and a structured, systematic approach.  Developing phonological (out loud) awareness first with end sounds, syllables, beginning sounds, rhyming etc.  These are some of the building blocks of literacy.  We then gradually build up a child's ability to encode (spell) and decode (read) sounds and then words.

Letter sounds first, then learning the name.

Causing stress by pushing children too early, causes more problems for the child.   Please be guided by the goals we set for your child.

Our goal is for children to choose to read and to do so for pleasure and information.

Your child's teacher will talk to you about your child's goals and how you can assist them.