Rapid Catch-up
For children in Year 2 to Year 6
 

We timetable daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 2 and above who is not at age-related expectations for reading or has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children urgently need to catch up, so the gap between themselves and their peers does not widen.
 

• These short, sharp lessons last 15 to 20 minutes daily and have been designed to ensure children quickly catch up to age-related expectations in reading. These lessons are taught by an experienced teaching colleague.
• We assess children who are new to our school, new to the country or new to English using the Rapid Catch-up assessments to quickly identify their needs.
• We use the Rapid Catch-up assessments to identify the gaps in children’s phonic knowledge and teach these using the Rapid Catch-up resources – at pace. We assess children every four weeks using the Rapid Catch-up summative assessments to assess progress and inform teaching.
• Our Phonics & Early Reading Lead supports teaching colleagues and pupils with Rapid Catch-up.

After pupils finish the Little Wandle SSP core programme, the Phonics & Early Reader Lead liaises with the Key Stage Two Reading Lead to move those children on to fluency and comprehension reading lessons. This begins with a baseline assessment on Accelerated Reader and a Little Wandle fluency assessment. We assess reading speed and accuracy every 12 weeks and use these assessments to monitor progress and allocate books. We also use Assessment for Learning (AfL) and our professional judgement to assess each child’s progress in reading, so we can ensure that they have the right books to meet their needs. Comprehension is taught through dialogic talk and teachers use their AfL to quickly address misconceptions and develop children’s curiosity and engagement with each book.