Phonics

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At Ashmount Primary School we believe that the teaching of phonics is vital in order for children to become competent readers and writers. We strive to ensure that all children become successful, fluent readers by the end of Year 1. We believe this is achievable through a combination of strong, high quality, discrete phonics teaching combined with a whole language approach that promotes a ‘Reading for Pleasure’ culture.

The key to our success is our whole school consistent approach. Teaching and Learning of Phonics in EYFS and KS1. All phonics in EYFS and KS1 is taught following the DfE’s ‘Letters and Sounds’ publication to reinforce children’s acquisition of the sounds.

Letters and Sounds Programme is designed to teach children how the alphabet works for reading and spelling. Systematic, high quality phonics teaching is essential for children to achieve reading and writing skills. Letters and Sounds is designed as a time limited programme of phonics. It works on securing fluent word recognition skills for reading by the end of Key Stage 1 and as an intervention in Key Stage 2. Our staff are trained to deliver high quality phonics sessions. They adapt their planning to ensure the development and application of phonic skills, following half termly assessments with each child. We operate additional daily focus groups for children who need additional support.

Planning for phonics is carried out separately from English but with the understanding that good phonics teaching should link to the literacy needs of the children within an English lesson and across the curriculum. Each Phonics lesson includes the following sections:

  • Introduction to the lesson
  • Revise/Revisit – Overlearn the previous graphemes and words
  • Teach – Introduce a new grapheme/word
  • Practise – Develop GPCs (grapheme phoneme correspondences)/read and spell new words
  • Apply – Use the new graphemes/word in games and activities to secure knowledge
  • Assess – Monitor progress within each phase to inform planning.

Phonics is taught in short, briskly paced sessions and then applied to reading and writing in meaningful contexts. All activities are well matched to the children’s abilities and interests, and all classroom environments have an age appropriate display/working wall concentrating on both sounds and key words.

Letters and Sounds Publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letters-and-sounds