Phonics

Early Reading

The systematic teaching of phonics has a high priority throughout our school. Phonics is taught daily to all children in the Foundation Stage, Year 1 and some children further up the school. Staff systematically teach learners the relationship between sounds and written spelling patterns, or graphemes, which represent them. Phonics is delivered in (regularly) assessed groups and coaching is planned for those children who are working below expected levels.

Read Write Inc (RWI) is used as the spine for delivery of the phonics sessions. This programme is visual, audial and kinaesthetic, thus increasing the likelihood of rapid progress. Pupils will be given reading books which match closely to the phase of the phonics they are currently working on. This forms the foundation for lifelong readers.

RWI is based on the five P’s:

Children learn quickly in a positive climate.

Pace – Good pace is essential to the lesson.
Purpose – Every part of the lesson has a specific purpose.
Passion – This is a very prescriptive programme. It is the energy, enthusiasm and passion that teachers put into the lesson that bring the teaching and learning to life!
Participation - A strong feature of R.W.I lessons is partner work and the partners ‘teaching’ each other (based on research which states that we learn 70% of what we talk about with our partner and 90% of what we teach).
Planning - Pupils work within ability groups which are defined by their performance on R.W.I assessments. Pupils are assessed every half term and the groups are reorganised accordingly.

Children learn sounds in school which help them to read and write. They then practise these skills through reading 'Book Bag Books' at home which are specifically pitched to both consolidate learning and provide challenge in an engaging and fun way! This is what they look like.

All children in EYFS and KS1 have a reading record that they take home every day and this creates a strong link of communication between home and school.

Reception

In Reception, all children will learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. Those who are ready, will begin to read simple words within books and write some of these.

Year 1 and above

Children follow the same format as Reception but will work on complex sounds and read books appropriate to their reading level. Phonic sessions take place daily. Set 1 Sounds are taught with a numonics (short rhyme) to help children form the letters correctly and instantly recognise sounds ready for blending. The children are then taught Set 2 Sounds – the long vowel. When they are very confident with all Set 1 and 2, they are taught Set 3 Sounds.

Set 1 Sounds