Phonics

We plan for Phonics using guidance from Letters and Sounds. Our lessons begin in Foundation stage with Phase 2 where the children learn to say the phonemes correctly using pure sounds and recognise the corresponding grapheme. Our children soon begin to learn how to blend these sounds together to read CVC words and to segment sounds for spelling. We teach the phase 2 tricky words and explain to our children that these are words that are not decodable and that have to be remembered.

We use the mnemonic cards from Read, Write Inc to introduce each phoneme and the correct formation of the grapheme, but the other resources we use are recommended by the Letters and Sounds guidance.

The children are taught to use pure sounds as this encourages better blending as they begin to read words. Please use the link  below to listen to a child pronouncing each sound correctly.

Phase 2

The following sound are taught in phase 2.

s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f

We also teach the children the strong sounds ck, ss, ll, zz and ff.

The phase 2 tricky words are; I, no, go, to, the, into

Phase 3

In phase 3 the rest of the first 26 sound are taught and then we move onto digraphs and trigraphs.

l j v w x y z qu 

digraphs sh ch th ng

vowel digraphs ai ee oa oo (long and short) ow oi or ar ur er

trigraphs igh ear air 

The phase 2 tricky words are; he, we, be, me, she, my, her, all, are, you, was, they

Phase 4

During phase 4 the children are taught to blend longer words together combining sounds to create clusters. For example dr, cl, br, st

The children are also taught to read polysyllabic words.

The phase 4 tricky words are; so, do, like, have, come, some, little, there, out, one, were, what, when

Phase 5

Phase 5 is taught throughout Year One. The children learn alternative grapheme representations for the sounds they already know. They learn how to read each grapheme and we focus more on spelling so the children become more familiar with which grapheme representation to use when writing. The children learn to read the split digraphs a_e, e_e, o_e, i_e and u_e and we form vowel sound families using all the alternative graphemes for each phoneme.

The phase 5 tricky words are; looked, asked, people, their, could, would, should, oh, Mr, Mrs

Phase 6

Phase 6 is taught mostly in Year Two. The children continue to learn alternative graphemes for sounds and learn to use prefixes and suffixes to change the meaning of root words. Phonics links closely to the outcomes for grammar at this stage and the children's spellings provide them with further opportunities to practise grapheme representations learnt and the words that contain them. 

Reading

Our reading scheme follows the children's phonics development. The books are organised so that the children can practise the phonics they have been learning in their phonics session at a level appropriate for them. Teachers track the reading books read by each child and monitor weekly the phase at which they are reading. Children are moved onto the next phase of books when they are able to confidently segment and blend words containing the graphemes they know and read the tricky words. Comprehension of texts is also important and is assessed in conjunction with the child's ability to blend and read tricky words.

Phonics Screening Check

At the end of Year 1, children complete the Phonics Screening check. The Phonics Screening Check is designed to show how well your child can use the phonics skills they've learned up to the end of Year 1, and to identify students who need extra support with phonics. The check consists of 40 words and non-words that your child will be asked to read one-on-one with a teacher. The 40 words and non-words are divided into two sections one with simple word structures of three or four letters, and one with more complex word structures of five or six letters. Your child will be scored against a national standard, and the main result will be whether or not they fall below, within or above this standard. If your child's score falls below the standard, they will be given extra phonics help and are expected to re-take the Phonics screening check at the end of Year 2.