When Nancy, first arrived to live with our foster carers, she was attending school in Year 1 however, she wasn’t meeting age related targets for her core subjects, including reading and Phonics. Nancy was unable to sound out, and recognise letters and sounds, for her common high frequency words, which meant she was unable to read books.
Along with support from school, and from her foster carers, Nancy attended daily Phonics groups and took a book home every evening to practise her letters and sounds. When Nancy was in Year 2, she did start to make some slow but gradual progress and was able to read and sound out, her high frequency words needed, to be able to read, with support, red group books. Although red group books are seen as the lowest colour banded book, this was significant progress for Nancy. Before the end of Nancy’s time in Year 2, a place came up for her and her sibling to move to the local school, nearer to their foster carers home. So, the decision to move them was made. This is when Nancy’s progress, escalated quite rapidly. Nancy continued to move up the coloured book bands, on the reading scale and progress through the different levels of Phonics. This was again, due to Nancy’s will and wanting to learn but also, the daily support she received from her foster carers. They were patient and consistent with their approach, and guided Nancy whilst always, letting her take the lead to go at her pace. Constant communication, between home and school, was also a major factor in Nancy’s progress. Fast forward slightly, to the Easter term of Year 3, and Nancy has surpassed all expectations and is now classed as a free reader, which means she is able to choose any book, on the class bookshelf or, from the school library to read unaided.
We work closely with the National Literacy Trust and because of this, we can give our children, a new book to keep and enjoy reading, every few weeks. Nancy looks forward to receiving her books, retelling the stories, and sending us a fabulous book review.
