Once your child has shown a positive interest in the printed word, he or she will progress through a series of pre-reading activities, to ensure his or her readiness for the next, more formal stage of reading. Preparatory reading schemes are introduced if your child reaches a stage of readiness, and children find the animal characters in these stories fun to get to know. But children will not, however, learn to read until they are ready, and this stage will be different for each child. Skill in pencil work, colouring within boundaries etc, indicates a control which will lead to letter formation. After completing writing patterns, the children proceed to writing over letters and joining dots, until they can copy, and then write, their name. The pride which children show with this achievement is immense, and they are soon copying writing eagerly. We also ensure that each letter is formed correctly, and encourage parents when helping their child to use lower case letters, and the correct letter formation. We have weekly sessions with ‘Lingotots’ for our Oranges & Lemons children which introduces the Spanish language. Monkton's reputation for supporting children with English as an additional language has inspired parents from Europe and South America to seek our care for their children.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language have excellent relationships with staff. Children in the pre-school room begin to recognise letters in their name. They copy over the letters on an interactive board and link them to new words with the same sound.